Peter and the quest of the glass lance
by last of the old order
Summary: Its about a boy who lost his father before being born, but when he got 15 some things happened that changed his life completely.  This story will tell you about these things and what happened to a innocent boy who just wants to save his own live.


Hey guys, this is Peter speaking. I've to tell you a really weird story about a boy who lost his father without having had a chance to get to know him, but when he got 15 things started to become really complicated.

**Chapter 1 **

**Introducing**

It was a dark December night in the year 1985 and the streets of London were full of snow while the temperature stayed at 20 degrees below zero. A man was going down a street nearby Piccadilly Circus looking for a place to stay for the night. He reached an old house out of the time as kings and queens had ruled the English Empire to glory and honour.

His feet were tired and his thoughts were in his great hall in "secret hill castle" which is to be found near the Statue of Liberty, New York. So he climbed the steps towards the massive oak – door to ring the bell, which was formed like an eagle, with claws to catch his target immediately if he would need it.

A smile appeared on the man's face when he noticed this and he whispered in a low voice," Awake my little friend, because I give you the ability to guard this family in times to come." And really, the golden eagle opened his eyes and was eyeing him suspiciously out of two blue diamonds, which had the size of a fist. Before slowly nodding his head he made a noise as if he wanted to shrink him away. Ignoring the behavior of the bird Lord Liberty rang the bell and waited for someone to let him inside.

During this time his thoughts went to his friend Lord Wendlin who had asked him three years ago to visit a special family in this part of London, because he had given away a secret which he had kept out of the reason that the members of the secret nation had sworn not to reproduce with humans since the French revolution when the children of Lord Ursow and his own had destroyed the kingdom of France leaving all in total chaos. This went on for the next years under Robespierre and the circle around him, because he was a son of Lord Paulus who's intention was to get the might in church from Lady Romilda and this had ended in a fight with the two mightiest weapons the world ever saw. Lord Liberty remembered pretty well the dangerous situation in these days, because he was the one who had cooled the parties down after the confrontation had cursed a really big storm across Italy that was mentioned in the counting books of storms as the destructive one for nearly 1000 years.

The door went open and pulled him out of his thoughts quickly, because in the doorway was standing a woman who was much prettier than anyone he had met in all his lifetime. She asked him with a concerned voice," How do we own your visit at such a time of the night, eh mister ….?" " Lars Brookmann.", Lord Liberty answered quickly before continuing sweetly, "I am on a journey to some friends here in England, but I had missed my train to our meeting point and so I wanted to ask if you would allow me to stay here for the night?" His eyes caught a strange fire deep inside which seemed to scan the intention the woman in front of him had towards people like him. A voice out of the background interrupted them in that moment, it was the voice of a young girl who said, "Mom, would you please come back inside again, it starts to get really cold here!" The woman shook her head a little bit distractedly and motioned for the man to step inside before closing the door and answering her daughter softly, "I am with you immediately my dear, but would you please prepare another seat, because we have a guest here for the evening." Lord Liberty started to shake as he heard the ennerving voice of the girl complaining about the timing some of her mother's costumers seemed to have.

As they entered the kitchen the girl was standing in front of the kitchen stove and cooked an extra meal for her mother to be happy, or better to increase their changes of having the opportunity to earn some money.

But all the hope got lost as the stranger started to speak, "So, you are the girl in the house, if I'm right?" "Yes, you are, sir, my name is Marina and this is my mother Melinda, but my father got lost last year in a plane crash..." She was interrupted by the man a little bit rudely, "No, he has not. Your father, Marina, is an old friend of mine and had asked me to come here today to tell you exactly this and to give you a task, because he thinks you deserve to be involved in the fights your family is preparing for, even if I disagree with my brother in this point I can't ignore the wisdom in his words, but I suspect your aunt Esmira is behind this..." He trailed of before he noticed the faces of the two women in front of him. "So that's why my daughter is this highly educated even if she is only three years old!" The older woman whispered. "Yes, Mrs. Gardener, the man you met at your University was nobody less than my brother Lord Wendlin, keeper of the secrets, which is also the reason why I was not here sooner. Sometimes my brother can be really obscure if a theme is related to the family. So, I am the uncle of the young lady." "Ah, I see, I have to give you the detailed version of the story, but where to start?", Lord Liberty murmured. "At the beginning maybe?", Marina suggested which brought up a laughing attack by all of them. "Right you are, so listen closely, because I will not repeat it once more. If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask them." He cleared his voice and seated himself comfortably before starting, "My, or should I say, our story starts billions of years ago, when the Universe was created and the earth a young planet. The earth was noticed by another planet on which the life was much more developed than the humans are today. The people on that planet decided to send a group of them here when they noticed that the humans needed someone who had an eye on the well – being of the earth. So our ancestors decided to give us weapons and special abilities to let freedom and peace stay forever here, but as peace can't really exist from the first day to the last the people parted into two families who stayed at different places avoiding each other from that day on. The weapons I'm speaking of are a golden sword, a dagger made of ice, a silver bow and a lance out of glass. Also some of us are famous enough to stand for wisdom and religion. I myself am the owner of the liberty fire since the USA got the Statue of Liberty as a present from France. The other side also got some gifts which are a sword as well as a rapier, a horn and a shield.

We all are immortal, but as we are not allowed to show up actively in the lives of humans we are forced to reproduce with humans for rescuing the earth even at this time. Sometimes, if the situation is nearly out of control it is possible that we reproduce in our own nation. If this happens a child is born that is much stronger than the nature wants it to be, do you understand?" Mrs. Gardener nodded slowly and voiced a question that would change the life of all three of them dramatically, "And,hm, and this has happened to us?" "Definitely my lady, definitely. So your daughter is related to Lord Wendlin and this is reason enough for me to play my last card in this game." He reached out for a glass of water and gave a kind of powder into it, which made a golden fire out of the clear blue water and motioned for Mrs. Gardner to drink. The liquid ran through her mouth like milk and she fainted as she had finished her cup, so that her daughter had to catch her before she could hit the floor.

" I am sorry for what me and my family let you walk into. Now I give you some information you must keep to yourself until your brother is old enough to understand. Your father is a member of the secret nation and a keeper of secrets in the Underground of the London dungeon. When you reach the age of twelve there will be a visitor from the youth welfare department coming to your house accompanied by a little boy, and he will ask your mom to adopt the little boy and you have to agree to the adoption or the secret nation will fall and nobody knows what will happen to kids like you."

With this last sentence one of the highest Lords of the secret nation said his good bye with a sad look in his face, because he thought that he had seen this young girl and her mother the last time in his life. Oh, if he only knew how wrong he was.

**Chapter 2 **

"**My worst birthday ever"**

I woke up in my room in a department of the London east side, where my mother, my sister, my little brother and I lived since I'm on earth. There was a knock on my door and I heard my mom telling me in her Peter voice that it was time to stand up and get ready. I groaned and started to tackle my blanket down towards my feet, reached out for my alarm – clock, which rang next to my ear with a song of Bob Marley, my favorite singer out of the newest charts. Slowly I managed to pull myself into a sitting position, reached out for a pair of socks, which lay next to my bed on a little mountain together with some T – shirts, pullovers and trousers, and went out of my room to get down into the kitchen for the normal birthday – breakfast like my family did for my sister and me since... yeah since ever. But when I had reached the kitchen my mom and my sister were sitting at the breakfast – table like every day. No, not like every day, today they looked extremely tired even if I could not decipher why. So I decided to go to bed for another hour, but my mother's gaze shot up and I could see her eyes becoming dangerously wet, so I slowly went towards the two, praying in my thoughts that it was not because another school had kicked me out last week. To understand this you must know that I had caused several problems since I went to school, so that I can say that I have one school for each year of my life. My mother always bursts out into tears if there is another letter in our post telling what a slob I always am, and what crime I had commited this time. And every night, when my mother thinks that I'm asleep she is talking to my sister about some happening from the time before my birth and that "they" will get suspicious towards me being here in New York, as if "they" could have enough power to kill a young boy like me. But even my friend Billy Mc McCartney had made an exchange to a grammar school in Berlin, the capital of Germany, one of our popular destinations for the holidays. I can't give a reason why it was like this, but I think even my boring sister is always really happy if Berlin is mentioned by one of us. On top of all my birthday presents lay an envelop with our address in a strange handwriting on it. It said:

Mr. Peter Gardner

Piccadilly Circus 121d

14785 New York

Before I could have a chance to get the letter, my sister had picked it up and my mother shook her head, before starting to speak, "No my dear, you will not read this before I have told you something about... hm... yeah about a special night that is influencing your whole life from now on." I answered carelessly, "I know about it mom." The reaction to that simple sentence was much too high – pitched in my opinion, but both of them looked at me with horrified eyes and my sister started to shake which was really odd, as she could be really cool normally, even when there was this strange man who held a gray rapier in his hand and talked to an old man with pointed ears and eyes like windows of a dungeon. "Eh, Peter!", my sister started to speak, "About these two men we saw last week..." Her gaze became much more intensive, "They are really, really dangerous for you at the moment." "But why?", I burst out, annoyed about this secretiveness my family was making today. At that moment our fireplace burst into flames and a voice was echoing through our kitchen that was full of worry with a shade of haste inside saying, "Tell him now, or he will fall unprepared into the quest he must manage if the nation should live on. So I beg you make the right decision!" The voice vanished as fast as it had appeared leaving my mother worried sick in her face and my sister asked me for something that gave me the proof that she had gone mad. She said, "Peter, light the fire!" "What?" "Don't ask questions, only light the fire!" So I starred into the empty fireplace while imagining how it would be to let the wood burst into flames, and there was the feeling I get every time when I'm ennerved by my sister, a feeling as if I could bring down every one who goes against me and my family. I filled my body with it and without any intention I shouted something in a strange language that meant as much as, "Fire, come to life and hear to the orders your master is giving you." At first everything hadn't changed a bit, and I started to feel a little bit stupid about myself when there really was something going on. A heat started to rise in my body and forced my hand to point onto the fireplace while a jet of flames burst out of my finger and lit the kitchen in a friendly glowing orange.

I could not trust my eyes, but inside of our fireplace was a fire slowly eating the pieces of wood. My sister tossed up on me, always screaming, "He had acknowledged him, oh my lord, he had acknowledged him!" But in the next moment she got quiet, and looked at me as if she thought about the possibility of killing me right now. Can you imagine this, my own sister, My Own Sister!" This was the moment I was rescued by my mother, who only said, "Let it be, Marina, he could also be useful for your kind. Let's see his reaction on his presents. Come on Peter,dear!" My mother pointed to the mountain of strange looking presents which lay all around the kitchen and I didn't even notice. So I grapped one of the packages and ripped away the paper only to see a sword like the old Greek fighters in the time of Hannibal had used to cut open their chests. Also my other presents weren't the best. All I could recognize was that on all of them was an emblem which showed a big hand holding up a torch. Across the whole length of the blade were symbols to read, but I was not able to decipher, because I had never seen such glyphs in my life. Marina seemed to have noticed it too, and answered my unvoiced question with one look into my face, "You are now the owner of the ancient sword, your father used to swing in the battle of Troja the last time. Its name is fire – eater and it is exactly that what it will do for you!" "Okay!", I managed to say, "So there is only one question left. Why did nobody tell me about this a little bit earlier? And..." The rest got down unheard, because there was a roar outside that cut all the noise around and cursed all of us a flinch. "We have to go to the airport now!", I could make out my sister's voice next to my left ear and with a flicking of her fingers she transported us to Heathrow airport with all our bags I didn't even remember we had packed. "What was that about,eh?" The only answer I got was something that sounded like "lord of the steppe", but I haven't had a clue what that could be. My sister charged us in the direction of the take off stations keeping in this monolog by herself, always talking something about, "Lord Mirkow is dangerously mad, and I did not have a clue why.", and other stuff similar to this.

We reached the departing point soon enough and my mom said her goodbye with a sad smile on her face while she promised to bring Simon along if we needed him in Berlin. For me all this seemed to far away to understand one word of all this. Why should we need my six year old brother in a normal city like Berlin? As soon as there was a possible moment I would have a nice chat with my sister about the happenings today.

It was three o'clock in the afternoon and I was sitting at the airport with my sister to make a kind of permanent holiday in Berlin, or so I thought for the moment. So you could imagine what a broad smile was constantly on my face, and I really looked like the idiot I'm known as in every single school in the state of New York.

My sister shot an evil look at everyone who passed by, before she looked at me, and asked, "Would you please tell me what time it is?" "It is three o'clock, why do you want to know?", I answered slowly. "Because, I have to tell you a secret that was kept hidden from you out of the reason that you are much too young to fully understand the consequences of your own existence." As I heard this I was much too shocked for a moment, but before I could have added my opinion to this my sister started to speak up again with so much speed that I assumed she wanted to get rid of this for years, but had not have a chance to speak out loud with my mother eavesdropping us every second.

"...So listen brother, you must know that this story is only incomplete and we must contact the other people who are connected to this for you to be informed enough to be useful for us.", I nodded and motioned for her to continue.

"... The story starts with a night nine months before you were born in December 1985. It was really cold and I and mom had prepared diner when our door – bell rang. So mom went answering the door, while I stayed in the kitchen observing the meal being cocked properly. After some minutes she wasn't back so I shouted out loud, "Mom, would you please come back inside again, it starts to get really cold here!" She came back inside with a man behind her who had dinner with us and told us a story about a group of people he had named the "secret nation" and how they were working in the Underground of the whole world. He had spoken about my father and that I would have a great task to do when you would be old enough to understand. He left us the same night and we lived on normally until the day of your birth, how ironic that it should be the 21st of June, the day of the winter solstice. It was really risky, because normally this is the day when the children of the darkness are born, but as a son of the great Lord Liberty you are much but definitely nothing you could call normal. We were brought to the hospital by my dad, or your uncle, Lord Wendlin, who stayed on a faked visit to cover up your arrival on the earth. It didn't work perfectly, but we managed to confuse Lord Ursow long enough to make sure you weren't killed right after being born.

Since than we had nearly no day when we weren't watched by the lords and ladies of the darkness. The only thing that rescued you was my ability to cover up things from my enemies, a gift from your uncle.

As you know nobody of your classmates know about you being not entire human, and we had hoped that this fact would help to cover up your existence, but your ability changes everything." "You mean that I can make fire do what I want it to do?", I asked. "Exactly, that had given them the hint they needed to be sure of you being a trouble – maker. It's extremely rare that a child of the big two is born and now we have two of them. And to let the situation explode I heard rumors about something mighty had been stolen from one of the Lords. This has given the needed spark for the fire of hate and suspicion to brake out, so now the world is starting to fall apart in a war where the powers, which were supposed to heal the world, rip it apart leaving it completely broken. Our only hope was that Lord Liberty and Lord Wendlin would continue staying neutral. Nobody expected something like the thing today in our kitchen. It left us nearly without any defence against possible takeovers from the lords and lady's of the darkness. The reason for bringing you away is that it is no longer safe to be near your dad, for you may get caught and we lose our last trump. Also your uncle is the searcher for newcomers and so you must be there if you want to or not, and I think you will possibly be happy, because there is somebody living in Berlin at the moment I want you to meet." With a smile that hinted some information for me, that seemed really good, my sister went to the check – in and entered the plane together with me. So the greatest adventure of my life started right now.

Our flight could be described as uneventful, if you don't count this stewardess who seemed to have constantly an eye on both of us, but if I looked back she pretended not to notice me.

Time went on and I started to feel really bored sitting between Marina and a fat man who was constantly eating burgers of Mc Donald's. I undid my belt in the intention to have a little walk up and down the corridor between the seat – lines. Before I did that I checked on Marina if she was still sleeping. On my way towards the cockpit there was a movement which made me nearly jump into the air and the strangest thing was that nobody noticed me doing this. The reason of me jumping in the air was the face of the stewardess. It looked like a war – helmet founded out of massive bronze. The woman hissed, "Hallo, Peter Gardner, I am Lady Kirsten, but you can name me also your worst nightmare." With that the demon shot forward and caught me by the wrist with one hand while the other was holding a bronze – colored horn which she was blowing right now. The tune was deep and froze me immediately. From the inside I only could make out a black cloud of smoke with faces inside, in the next moment one man and two ladies were standing in front of me. I recognized them all from the story my sister had told me and that I thought it was a joke until I saw this group of people standing calmly in the midst of innocent passengers who were running around being seriously mad, because of this turbulent flight. I would not be here telling you this story if not for the man who ate these burgers if you remember?

He was standing behind me, holding up a weapon out of pure ice. It was a dagger, but not a normal dagger like people use it sometimes to cut meat or bread, it was a dagger that seemed to be stronger than a new nuclear power plant build up. The handle was silver while the blade was a superb handmade object of pure gold, which glowed under a film of ice that was produced, because the gold was so hot that it constantly produced water that froze by the slightest contact with the air.

While I was watching him his shape started to shimmer and he got bigger and bigger. When he stopped growing his height was 2,75 meters and the dagger – blade in his ridiculously large hand was like a sharp club which could smash entire cars into scrap metal.

To see a man you didn't even know by name standing up only for your sake is amazing I can tell you, but if this man also starts fighting in a ridiculous kind you must think that you are a kind of a hero or god to deserve such a way of being rescued. If you can imagine this, you can feel the feelings, too, I had in this situation, but only if you are lucky. But as if this was not enough I recognized my sister next to this godly apparition with a grim expression on her face which I thought was anger, but than I changed my mind and saw concern for me blazing in her eyes begging that I stay safe. While I still was drinking this reinsurance out of my sister's eyes the group of dark Lords and Ladies had brought the giant fighter down and prepared the last blow and would kill my rescuer. Now I could feel again this restless energy in my body, which wanted to break free to give hope to those who are in danger. This mighty force was strange to me, because I was only the undoing viewer from the corner if the group of school bullies, with my friend Billy Mc McCartney ahead of them, were bullying one of their targets again.

Nobody would ever expect help from the small Peter Gardner who wasn't even able to lift a box of footballs without ten or twenty tries, and now there was this strength inside me and I only had to give it a direction to go to.

Why I got this might now and not in situations like I described above? Not even I have a satisfying answer for this question, but if I had to guess I would say that it had something to do with the presence of my sister at this place of danger. You may call it protector instinct, but in my opinion it was a general protectiveness that was fighting its way to the surface. May it be as it is, fact is that this, I will call it thing, was the reason why we got out of the fight relatively unharmed.

As I felt this power rising I managed a 90 degree turn while gripping fire – eater's handle with my right hand and with a boom it dashed against the blade of a night – black sword. The lord was so much surprised that he couldn't even stop me to smash my sword into his stomach while shouting, "Fire awake!" With a scream Lord Paulus vanished into nothing and I was so happy about being rid of him that my concentration level dipped down until a harsh warning of my uncle was waking me up again. The rest of our enemies were killed by minutes. All three of us had to gasp for air like we had finished a three kilometer run in less than a minute.

My eyes zoomed around and all I could make out was Lord Maruk who looked at me as if he wanted to rip my skull open and put information into it. Then I realized that I had built up a barrier which blocked out all the thoughts of the people around me. Now I lowered it and immediately the voice of Lord Maruk was rumbling in my head, "Burn their memory of what they saw of our fight fast boy"

My mind felt like a frozen waterfall, so I heard my uncle telling me this, but the reaction was left out. Before I had to endure another period of screaming in my head my sister did the brain washing of all the innocent passengers.

As we were sitting properly again Lord Maruk was whispering something under his breath that I could barely make out, "Keep us safe from being heard!" A strange whirl of air shot up for a second and disappeared leaving a smell of fresh fallen snow around us.

"Now", Lord Maruk started, "I have decided to give you a proper introduction of the way you have to make your moves now until you get to the Humboldt University where people can have a closer look at your abilities and give you some advice how to control them better. Afer you have reached the airport it is necessary to look for a guy with the name Maik Paterson, an old school friend of your sister, right?" Marina's face blushed as she heard the hint of knowledge behind her uncle's words. I promised to myself that I would speak to her about this if there was some time off, but for the moment the bigger need was to find a way for us to get to the new school where things hopefully would cool down with the time.

So I joined back into the conversation, which had turned to the names of people we should consult after finding our way to school. He spoke about the headmaster, a Mr. Luke Labrinsky, as a friend of the secret nation who was prepared for cases like me. Also he got a paper out of his jacket on which was to be seen a list of names which had special marks of security standing next to them. My eyes got caught by a name that stood above all of them and gave me a warm feeling in the area of my heart. You must have seen something of this emotion coming across my face, because my sister and my uncle started to laugh strongly. My sister spoke up first, which seemed lucky for me, because if Lord Maruk had the chance first that would follow me for the rest of my life, now there is the chance that it is forgotten half of my life. "Ah, I see, you have found a favor for the young Sophie McCartney, maybe she becomes the future Mrs. Gardner?", Marina was making fun of me. Now it was my turn to look like a ripe tomato.

I got around this tight moment, because the plane started to slowly descent which was a pretty good sign that we had reached our destination. The wheels made contact with the earth again, while there was to hear a squeal that was hurting in our ears.

The voice of the exhausted pilot was to be heard through the loudspeakers, which were to be found all along the plane saying, "I hope you had a safe flight, hopefully you will join our airline for the next time again. Leave your baggage here, it will be brought to the baggage reclaim for you." We were going with the crowd so that it would not be this dramatical if the damage inside the plane would be noticed.

At the exit was a woman waiting for us. Her blonde hair was curly as if she always was much too busy for combing her hair so that it would look nice, or maybe she did not want to look nice! Anyway, there was another fact catching our eyes. Above her shoulder we saw a quiver with nearly 200 arrows inside, all looking like they were unique in design. Her face was hard like a restless warrior every time ready to face a whole army.

Like Lord Maruk she wore a hooded coat, but with every move she made we could have a glance onto a blue armour with red sparks on the breast – plate while her legs were covered in green. She had a bow in her left hand while her right hand was wiping a carriage forewords and backwards.

Her eyes darted restlessly through the crowd, but when she noticed us she seemed relieved. A smile showed up on her beautiful face for that each mortal man would do anything, for example take care for us to reach her unharmed.

And like she had manipulated the action of all men at the airport two policemen were standing next to us shouting, "Give some space for these tourists, please, they are in a hurry." There were building up two rows to let us pass in the middle of them.

We had nearly arrived at the woman's side as I saw the same faces like in the plane. All I could think was, "Oh no, not again. You will not get a hold onto my family as long as I live." So I screamed while pulling out my sword, "Hey you dirty little good for nothing, do you want to play a game?" I had them where I wanted them, so I added tempting them, "Catch me if you can!" The next moment I darted away while I heard angry voices behind me, cursing in the same language like I used to give me power over the fire. It gave me shivers over my spine, but I kept running until I reached a clearing where I turned around and faced them.

The man with the black sword laughed at me and said, "Now, little hero this time it is you against us without any help of your people and give us your little sword so that we can bring you to Lord Ursow like we were told." In my head a couple of voices were whispering about old injustice that was given to them by my people. For a moment my brain was working hard, but then I realized that they had a mistake in all their promises. They were assuming that I was a child of the lower lords and ladies like Lord Caracas or Lady Esmeralda. So I sensed a chance and teased, "So the bite of my sword tasted good or why would you like to have another test." The woman to my left screamed, "How could you dare to insult my husband, you dirty little lapse of the secret nation." The insult of my family was hurting, but this outburst gave me enough information to know who was standing in front of me.

They were Lord Paulus, Lady Kirsten and Lady Selenka. Each of them had a daughter and a son at a school in France so they could not bring me any problems for the moment after I would have put them out of order. "Let me have the favor to kill him, his sister would be knocked out and we would have a problem less.", Lady Kirsten was pleading. "No", Lord Paulus said, "Lord Ursow wants him alive **and **in one piece. Apart of this he could be really useful, even if he is only this lowly ranked."

I kept my mouth shut, but I would remember all this talking to tell it to my sister, so that we could have a proof to consult my father in this matter.

I waited for the ultimate end, but it never came. Instead I heard the sound of an arrow which zoomed through the air like an angry bee, until it stuck inside of Lady Kirsten's back.

Meanwhile I had started to fight Lord Paulus again, this time I avoided to use my power to kill him. This time I tested all the moves I could invent for training. Next to me Marina tackled Lady Selenka so much that it was hard to decide which face mirrored more hate. Every now and then an arrow hit the dark Lords and Ladies. Once again I killed Lord Paulus, this time I could not even say how, but he was not there anymore.

The reason was easy, but at the same time a real problem for us, because at the exit of the airport was standing a man with horns poking out of his forehead and in his hand he got a gray rapier. His eyes had the color of an unclean lake and could kill every happy thought of a person. The doors were wide open, but his body language said that nobody would get past him. There this block of a man stood between us and our freedom not even moving a muscle.

Also I had the feeling that the time was standing still. On his coat I could make out an emblem for the first time since I had contact with the Lords and Ladies of the darkness. It was the emblem of Reykjavik and now there were also symbols on the clothes of Lord Paulus and the rest had this too. I stored this in my brain to ask for this at school. Then I did something that could only be described as suicide.

While nobody dared even to think about walking through the entrance, I, according to the innocence of youth, walked past the Lord of Reykjavik. A groan from him made me jump into the air, but my reflexes took over control which ended with my burning sword in the chest of this block of a man.

Ignoring the shock in the faces of my family I went out into the sunlight enjoying the moment of peace as the first one since I got out of this plane. Now that I had a closer look onto my whereabouts I was not able to close my mouth again. Everywhere was to see a book store or a library and then I saw a store where a book with the name "mystic weapons and where to find them" was lying. At that moment my uncle was next to me and said, "Ah, my dear boy, I am happy that you show some interest in books, but you don't have to buy it, because it is school stuff you will get from Lord Wendlin when you are officially a member of us, and for now we will escort you to Maik Paterson, where you can prepare yourself for school tomorrow." With that he trailed off, not even waiting for me.

Our way was leading us through streets that did not deserve to be called so, because all you could see looked like a rubbish dump where nobody would live out of his free will. The houses looked like they were out of the time before the First World War, the pflaster was broken away at some parts and I swear that I saw a picture of Lady Kirsten painted onto the wall with blood.

I shuddered and my sister hugged me shortly, but said nothing to the picture. The sun was nearly at the horizon when we got to a flat that looked like it was built when my mom was six years old. "Somebody lives here?", I asked while the others were looking for a bell to ring. In front of me the air started to shiver and a boy materialized out of thin air, "Yes, birdbrain, and if you ever repeat this again I swear that you will never see the morning light again." He looked at the others and said, "The great Lord is inside with the special guest you have asked for, even if I think that it is not good to give them a meeting before her brother saw him." "Her brother knows him pretty much, a little bit too much if I am allowed to say that!", my sister gave back.

Okay, Mrs. all knowing!", the boy said with a hint of a smile on his face. We entered the living room and were greeted by two people who were really surprised to see me. "Peter", my sister announced with a loud voice, "I introduce you to Sophie Mc McCartney, commander of the half blood kids on our school and to Lord Liberty, head of the secret nation and your father." Before I could give my respect to one of them I faint and brake down, but before I blanked out my ears caught a soft girl voice speaking my name, "Peter!"

**Chapter 3**

"**I meet the girl of my life"**

I woke up in a dark, unfamiliar room. When I started to lift my head exploded a sharp pain at the back of my head. "You shout not make too fast movements with that swelling their", a soft voice was telling. After recognizing this voice I bubbled out harshly, "I know and have not asked for your help!" There was silence in the room now, but my new senses could make out short sobs which told me that my reaction had a much to drastic effect on the person next to me.

It was a fireplace room with many book – shelves at the walls. With a flick of my fingers the fireplace lit up and now I was able to make out every single detail of the room.

The door went open and a man looked around with an astonished face that seemed to search for the reason why a fire was burning in a room that was dark when he had left it five minutes ago. Then his eyes found my face and he nodded in approval, "So you had made it to this secure place! I hope you are not to angry with me, but as the head of the secret nation your father is often much to stressed to look after his children properly." He opened his arms in welcoming and I was happy to see him the first time in my life that I flew into his arms while crying tears of happiness.

For ten minutes we stand there, only enjoying the presence of the other, until there was somebody clearing his throat, which made us turn around a little bit ashamed. "So that was the reunion of father and son after being parted for how long? Fifteen years. You should be ashamed for your behavior.", four voices were shouting which let us broke out into laughing. From the door – way Marina, Lord Maruk and Maik Paterson were entering the room carrying some trays with fruit and juice onto them. As they had set them onto the table we sat down and I had the presentiment that somebody, I do not want to tell names, had his hands in the seat arrangement, because I was sitting next to my father and the girl who had taken care of me.

For the next half an hour we eat in complete silence. All you could hear was the clicking of knife and fork, until a high "ping" sounded across the table, coming from the glass of Lord Liberty who started to speak now, "Now that we are all sated and watered I wanted to hear all about your way to this place here." Nobody wanted to answer so I started to tell the story, "We had some encounters with the servants of the darkness as you surely know, but I think that I have information for you that had not reached you by the will of our enemies." The mood in the room changed abruptly from dozing to exited and all of them were hanging on my lips. I felt a little bit sheepish, but recoiled all the information that were necessary. My father sometimes asked questions like, "Who did you say was the man at the exit?" or, "Did they mentioned a special date to start their actions?" So, when I really was ready the clock showed 10 o'clock in the evening. The adults begged me good night and the only person who remained with me in the room was Sophie. A smile let her beautiful face lit up even more in the darkness while she watched me, as if she did not know what she should think about me, but then she smiled and joked, "See you tomorrow, birdbrain!" I griped her wrist and whirled her around to make eye contact. What I saw cursed my head to turn red before I begged her good night too.

For one more hour I laid in my bed still pondering about the gaze that Sophie Mc McCartney used to look at me. It seemed as if my head was parted in two different parts. One part was always telling me, "She has a kind of relationship to your worst enemy!" The other part said things like, "Look at her eyes aren't they beautiful!" As I could not stand it anymore, I got dressed, opened my door and creeped in the direction of the fireplace – room. With a routine flicking of my hand the fire woke up and I sat down onto the couch and rested my eyes on the fire.

I must have fallen asleep their, because the sun was shining through the window when I was able to see something again. A voice was shouting my name and asked if I would be so nice to come down and have breakfast with the rest of my friends.

Only a moment later we were all sitting around the breakfast – table discussing our next possible moves by calculating the reaction of our enemies into our planning. I was out of a strange reason really relaxed. Next to me Sophie had taken a seat and her right hand was no longer on the table, but had found my hand which she was holding tight, as if she was afraid that I could vanish if she would loose her grip around my hand. I did not mind, but the eyes of my sister got wide for a moment as she looked at the table. She leaned through the table and whispered, "Get up to your room if you want to safe both of your lives. I can sense that Billy is reaching out with his mind for his sister now. Only your room will fight him away, and now go!" One of the gas lamps exploded and cursed some screams while we got up and sprinted unnoticed to my room.

Did I say unnoticed? Really, so it was not unnoticed enough. Next to the staircase a figure was coming out of the shadow and claimed up the stairs behind them sensing victory for killing the young boy and the girl better as she was a traitor of the family. A sly grin showed up on the shadows face and he started to hiss in triumph.

We had reached my room secured, and now I would get my answers out of her even if I had to force her to answer me. My voice trembled as I asked her, "Why do you play with my feelings? What do you intent with your actions? Where...?" There would never be a chance to end my questions, because she had picked out this moment to close the gap between us and pressed her lips onto mine with so much passion that it was lighting both of us up. The kiss deepened while our arms ripped around each other and we were slowly stagger in the direction of my bed. She dragged my T – shirt above my head and went on kissing her way down my bare chest, while my hands were pulling away her pullover and throw it in a dark corner of the room. "Peter!", she was groaning my name softly which turned me on very much. There could have happened much more, if not for the creature next to my bed that hissed, "Go on, old Sponger is always happy to gossip around and to find kids of the great lords kissing around is always really, really good gossip." Before I got him the shadow was going through the wall while giggling out of control I rolled with my eyes growling, "Now this moment will possible be around the world by tomorrow." "Maybe", was her only answer before she pulled me into a last kiss, gripped my hand again, dragged me out and closed the door which fall into its hinges with a "crack". We prepared our things for leaving the living place of Maik Paterson, also known as the inofficial headquarter of the secret nation.

My backpack was full of old pergament with maps of secret rooms on it that were hidden somewhere in the University and where only relatives of the secret nation were allowed to stay. There was this book inside that caught me when I had arrived at the airport and that I did not needed to buy out of this reason.

We needed 20 minutes to reach the school and so it was 7.25 as we were standing in front of the Humboldt University. My hand was in the strong, but passioned grip of Sophie who was really exited now and so I squizzeled her hand a little bit, to give her a sign that she was not alone anymore. I would stand aside her with my life, if I would need to. She was the girl of my life. So we made our way to the school doors slowly always noticing the presence of the other one next to us. To prevent any problem we were accompanied by my sister and her friend. While we wanted to pass the gates a closet of a boy was stopping us and said with a sly grin on his face, "Newcomers have to pay for entering until their names are ranked high enough to gave them a better status." With disgust in her voice Sophie shoot back, "My boyfriend and I will not do this and now let us pass if you don't want to end in big trouble." While my face blushed at her words Billy's eyes got wide and he stuttered, "You ...you are d... dating him. How could you betray me in this kind of way,you bitch?" The last part he was shouting and one of his hands went in the direction of her face, but before he could have harmed her two things happened in one time. First a loud crack was to be heard, because his wrist had broken and then she was surrounded by fire like a protector. At the same time I gave into a force that came from a mind some kilometers away which wanted to help us and I opened my mouth to shout with the voice of Lord Liberty, "I recognize Peter Gardner as my son and from now on he will be able to use the fire in which ever way he thinks is the best to work against all his foes." And I noticed that, deep inside me a soft sound was to hear and fire shoot up from this point to my hand and from there to Billy who was pulled up and flew ten feet backwards into a large swimming pool. I made a side look and nodded at the fire around my girlfriend which lit immediately and let her sink into my arms while I whispered to her, "That was very brave of you, but please try not to do such a thing again without me being around you to help." Her only respond was a exhausted nod and so we made our way to the classroom hand in hand. I felt a short brush of her lips on my cheeks, before she whispered, "You have grown very much my birdbrain and I'm very proud of it." My heart was beating very fast and I was thinking, "Not bad for your first day at school!", while my arm sneeked around her waist and pulled her warm body towards mine while enjoying the world with my girlfriend at my side, but it was already planned to rip us apart and a attack at our family was awaiting us in a short time to probe our trust into each other very hard.

Our first lesson was math, and from the first second I had known that it would not be my best subject, because as our teacher entered the room I sensed a bad aura around her that gave a hint how many problems would come in the future for the question of being moved up. A mean grin showed up on teachers face and she hissed, "Ah Mister Gardner, would you please be so nice and explain the task on page 48 of the book to your fellow students?" "Sure Mrs. Killingham!", I answered pretending not to have a clue, why she would hate me. For one moment a confused expression appeared on her face, as if she did not know how to cope with a situation like this. Then her face got blank, but now I was sure that I had found the opponent of my uncle and that it would be really hard to stand the class with such a monster teaching you. "So Mr. Gardner we are waiting!" My time was running out and I have not any clue what the right answer was, but then Sophie jumped to her feet and gave the proper answer. The teacher said, "Yes it's right, but I have not asked you, and as it is the rule here in my classroom that the student who was questioned is allowed to give the answere both of you will reseve detention for disturbing the lesson." The class went quiet with the exception of Billy who was laughing at me while starring at Sophie with a look tat said, "There you got a real looser, you should decide new with whom you spend your time darling." And if you look properly at him there was a cold fire in his eyes that seemed to calculate a good relationship for his sister.

This was the first time I saw the cold routine that was used in the circle of darkness to decide whom they wanted in their family and who was put into the category of losers. I think you know who got the first place at the looser – list, don't you? There I got my first enemy of the dark children and I could not have chosen a worse one for the first time. For now my list of pros and cons got two new candidates for the cons – side, how surprising, hopefully the next lesson would be better, by the way it was history.

The thought of gripping my sword and show up my true identity was in my head for the rest of the math lesson, but the fact of having Sophie next to me gave me the quiet in my mind that I needed to calm myself down. So I managed to stand the hole math – lesson with no more interruptions neither of the teacher nor of the students.

After math we had history on the time table and I thought that this would be the second disaster of the day and prepared for another Failure as the first mark of the subject. So I picked out my things and noticed happily that I sat next to Sophie again. A small smile appeared on my face as I watched the old, white bearded history teacher taking his seat, looking up from his papers and returning my smile while his eyes flashed up knowingly. At the same time a warm and friendly voice was talking in my head, "Good to see you Peter Gardner, son of Lord Liberty. I am Lord Caracas, the searcher of the newcomers. As I heard you met Lady Serina today." Here his gaze shoot from me to my bank neighbor, before he added, "I will see what I can do about, how had your father express himself, ah yeah the new room – arrangements." Luckily I had not to respond to this, because if I would have there would be needed a translator for the rubbish that left my mouth right now.

With a smile Mr. Turner, a synonym for Lord Caracas if non – members of the secret nation were around, started to introduce himself to us, as we were his new history class, "My name is Mr. Turner and my task is to give you a look into the secrets our history is holding back for us and we will start with the World War one to analyze the great importance of peace treaty specially after this war." He made a fast movement with his hand and all students, except of two, thought that a mechanism got active to dim the light. Then we saw the hall of mirrors inside the palace of Versailles and all the high ranked ministers discussing how to write down a treaty in agreement of all the sides. In the darkness I saw a well known face and I figured out that the dark lords had their fingers inside of this, but before I could cry out this the vision faded away until we sat in our classroom again. Mr. Turner was talking, but my head was so much distracted that I did not got anything of what he said, but luckily the bell rang at this moment and forced him to cut off. While we went for the door he shouted, "Mr. Gardner, Mrs. Mc McCartney for a word please. The rest of you may leave."

Sophie and I seated again waiting for him to give us a speech. Slowly he started to say, "I was begged to leed you inside the inner circle of our people and to fill you in a secret that only a few people know about at the moment." "And what is it?", Both of us burst out. "The glass lance of Lord Mirkow has been stolen."

**Chapter 4**

"**We cope with a really special relationship"**

The silence that followed to this revelation was so complete that you could think nobody was in the room. While I was much to confused to give a comment, Sophie was already having a look onto some papers full of names and lines to Lords and Lady's of the secret nation like on my example, but this one was much more detailed and immediately a plan was starting to structure itself in my head.

"We have to talk to this girl!", I pointed at one of the names in the last column. Sophie gave me a look that showed how much she doubt my plan could be successful. The reason she gave me was only backing up my opinion to have a try on my plan. That is what she said, "The name of her is Lucinda Parsewel and as a daughter of Lady Esmeralda she was very interested in church and religion, but two years ago she met a boy from Rom who showed her the ignorance she was living in and after this time she had started to change her lifestyle so drastically that I'm scared of how she had changed. The problem is that she had cut herself from the society and doesn't have any contact to us, but as I heard she had started started a relationship to Billy a week ago." At this time both of us got bright eyes and youled out, "We will have a date and convince them to come too!" We clapped hands and so it was sealed.

We said goodby to Lord Caracas and made our way to the school yard for having a planing chat whith a group of girls and boys from whom we know that they would help us to arange this dopple date whith fun.

We crossed the school yard while Sophie was waving at a girl with brown hair and silver eyes. Silver eyes? Yeah, you heard right. They ware like lighted tunnels confusing everyone who dared chating with the boy next to her. He was little and not what you would call thinn. A silver ring was on his finger with a symbol that looked like a dagger, this was all I needed to know. In front of me was standing a son of Lord Maruk! We all shaked hands and some of the girls gave me hugs that would have given me problems in concentration if Sophie would leave my side once, but she didn't and I was greatfull for this. After five minutes I was introduced to 5 children of Lady Romilda, 6 children of Lady Selina and 2 children of Lord Mirkow. As they were the only members of the secret nation apart of the teacher I decided that the order would be different from the one theire parents were in. So it was'nt a surprise to see that Sophie was leading them. She had toled me that theire were other ones who had higher positions then her, but here it was really nessesary to see the situation with wisdom leading us.

Our planing should start tomorrow, because it was late in the evening now and we made our way to our rooms. As you remember Lord Caracas had his fingers in the consulting for my room. So while the others went to bed I got my things and asked Sophie, "Do you know were my room is?" She pulled a door, with her name pinned on, open and stapped asside. "Oh, you are not jockeing are you?", I should'nt get a answer to this because she get the front of my shirt while laughing her lovely laugh and pulling me close to her. Our lips met like the last time, but it was much more slowly and intensive. We paused at the cauch while I went restlessly up and down her spine with trembling hands. She got rid of her shirt first before laying her head onto my shoulder exhausted. I let her rest there and started to take in the room with my eyes. No detail managed to not being deciphered by me, but I will not give away secrets that are not mine, so forget about it. Slowly I scouted away from her to give her some space, but she was next to me only after 2 minutes. A smile crossed my face before kissing her forehaed which made her relaxing always whispering my name into my ear. We kissed each other slowly and gentle before she lost her trousers and we found us in the bed, where she said quitely, "You know that this is really given us the button of a pair after this night?" I looked at her beautiful, cat like eyes and instead of answering I pulled her closer to my until it felt like we had one body and not two. Now I teased, "Maybe I leave you tomorrow and get me a younger one." "Do not dare, or you will see how angry your girlfriend can become if she thinks you are not interested in her anymore!", she responded harshly. Excusing I take my hands up, but only to pull her into another kiss that ended with her atop of me, breathing very hard, but with a strange light in her eyes. "Now you will get the experience how it is to have sex with a girl, birdbrain." She started to move slowly and the rest of the night was a perfect dream of passion and full of promisses that our relationship was still growing and our lives would be connected so much more that there would be a army needed to rip us apart.

In the same night, on a empty place infront of the Kremel apeared a person who looked much more stressed then in the morning when he had helped his son out of a unhappy encounter with that Mc Cartney boy, but even there a hint of suspicious was in his head, because he got a strange picture transfixed into his mind by Lord Caracas which hinted him to get on a visit to Lord Mirkow. A dangerous thought had come to his mind, "What would happen, if a thief could have managed steeling the glass – lance. The weapon that had brought the peacefull agreement in the cold war by observing both sides constaintly to avoide any spark that could have ended in an explosion with a catastrophal end for the earth." He remembered the lance. It was a monsterious object from 6 meter length with such a sharp point that you could kill shades, creatures builded out of evil people by giving them a drink out of the lake of hopelessness, only by tipping them on the chest.

So he entered the Kremel, but not like the humans would do. Lord Liberty stroke one of the lion – statues on its snout until it opened its jaw and breathed into the direction of two strange looking stone guards who standed in front of a wall out of pure silver. They unlocked theire lances leaving a passageway into a red glowing underground open.

Lord Liberty went down the stairs, which were made of burning stones, into the direction of a great dopple door out of ice. Inside the door were symbols of man and woman stanced, who were fighting each other for the sake of theire parents. That was the hint he needed to notice that he was entering the "palace of truth". To give you a clue what is ment by this, let me say, the "palace of truth" is one of the last secured places for the secret nation to hide, if they really are in the need for a hidden place, but as always theire is another palace from where the darkness gets theire fighters who only wanted one thing, to destroy the "palace of truth" to let the "temple of desire" replace it, which would meant that people were ruled only by theire evil desires they could imagine. This was the reason why the concil of the secret nation had made the decision to have a constaint guard to take care for all the people who had not stopped in believing in the secret nation. Lord Mirkow had been announced to be this caretaker and he had prepared his duty for nearly 3000 years now, but seemed dangerously neering its end, because the mighty lord of the steppe had lost his weapon that he always used to defend his realm, so now the advise of his brother was needed to prevent a war all over the world that could extinguish all the life on earth.

All this went through the head of Lord Liberty as he prepared himself to talk to his brother, since theire meeting at the last winter solsit. He wanted to knock the door as it went open a little bit shrieky. Where once upon a time mighty warriors were standing around talking and laughing, today only dust was lying around, while the wind was whispering through the empty hall. On both walls, left and right, skeletons in golden armour were holding out sharp spears always prepared to push them into the next one who passed them. As Lord Liberty entered the next room it was a totally different sign. The room was bare of furniture exapt for a arm – chair near a big fireplave where icy – blue flames were giving up a heat like several nuclear power plants. And in the chair was sitting a man, only wearing boxer shorts and a T – shirt enjoying the imense heat next to him. His seat had a preparation for his lance on the left side, but it was empty so Lord Liberty dared to voice a question into the deathly silence, "Where is your mighty lance, my younger brother?" As if he had waited for this, Lord Mirkow burst out harshly, "It had been stolen by one of our siblings, if not from yourself. Now you come here, playing the innocent while preparing a war against me thinking I'm to weak to defent myself!", He had spoken himself into a rage and tosed a scroll of parchment at the feet of Lord Liberty, who kneeled and took it, unfolded it to start reading:

Dear Lord Mirkow,

I charge you to be responsible for a special event taken place at the holy place of the secret nation in the deeps under the red square of your home country. You were watched by torturing a group of young girls to convince them to commit a murder on my person, not even hasitating turning to rapping those to get your will. For this I sugest offering me your mighty object, if not I will get it anyway and then the whole secret nation will be ripped apart by the end of the year. In hope you make the right decision, with best wishes

Lord Liberty

head of the secret nation

"And why, my dear friend should I do such a kind of torture to innocent children, if I'm the lord who easily beat you last sommer?", Lord Liberty was much to stunned to say something, so he could only use his powers to make a promise which included not only a apologize for his latest behaviour, but also said clearly that nobody would be able to stop him finding the lost lance with the help of the half – bloods at the Humboldt University. Therefor he absorbt the energy out of the restless air around him, using it to creat a pair of firy red rings with a writing inside them saying, Crues agnaz reg angrozia. It was written in a really old language and if the ancient scrolls were right it means, "We are the serchers of the glass – lance". Whith a sad look on his face Lord Mirkow gave his approval to this plan adding, "I was such a great fuel, but now I see the wise in your actions and from this moment on the reanforces you ordered can be sure of the full help of me and my kids." At this moment his voice got louder while the fire exploded in exitement because its lord did the same while his words were falling down on all his fues wherever they were hiding, "The nation is together again and now evil, beware or the storm of the elements will cast you into the darkest corner of the world as your prison for the rest of time!" Like an answer to this speech the storm outside was roaring like a manticore which woke up all the frozen fighters of the light so that, at the end of the night, the nature itself was starting to be involved in a disagreement as old as the world. The happenings tonight were setting free powers that were so ancient that they were forgotten by the darkness and so beeing a non renunciational ally in the titan fight between the secret nation and the lords and lady's of the darkness.

The sun was shining brightly into the room of Sophie Mc Cartney only to see poles of clothes lying next to the bed, in which two teenagers were cudling each other still fast asleep, so she got brighter and brighter until the wall started to vanish and a minute later a girl was standing next to the window wearing a light golden dress. Her hair was pale as the light of the stars while her eyes kept the impression of an unbelivable age inside them. Slowly she passed the distance between her and the bed kneeling down next to Peter's ear whispering, "You need to weak up dear son of Lord Liberty. Your family requires your help with all theire heart." Firstly Peter kept ignoring the voice and scouted himself towords Sophie holding her secured in his arms, but when the sun intended to pull him away from her a sword appeared in his hands shilding them from the intrudor. "Who are you?", A high pitched girl voice sounded through the room, "Peter, who is this person?" "I don't know either darling!", was the answer of her furious boyfriend. "Now, now easy yourself my friends, there is no need of beeing afraid. I am the sun and the reason why I am here is to deliver you a brandnew dicision of your family. They want me to tell you that the nature had been woken."

Silence was answering this outburst while all the animals on the grounds were acting unnormal, because the trees and lawns were preparing some kind of fight to prevent being destroyed, while in the distance a eagle with golden eyes was crying out like a alarm – clock. The weirdest of these things was that Peter recognized the eagle as the one they had pinned on the door of theire house and that he was able to understand what the bird was shouting, "Here we are master, now tell us how we can be of use." Peter shoked his head and answered shyly, "It was not me who asked for you to come Goldeye, but I can't let you go away again so, who ever is with you may stay and wait for further instructions by me!" "As you wish, my lord!", was the bird's reply. Before Peter focused back on the conversation he got a glimpse of a group of animals who normaly were avoiding the presence of the other one strictly. The group was numbered of six lions, two bears and a majestetic stag.

"I want to ask you, if you could convince Mr. Labrinsky to let us have a free evening for our date?", Peter said eagerly. "But of course, that is the reason why I got here! My only advise for you is to keep open your eyes if you are out in the night!", with that the young girl started to glow again for a moment until we were alone again. Whithout a word we met with Lucy infront of the office of the director still trying to catch our breath, because of the hurry we were in to get our plan fixed properly. Before we got to the secretary the way was blocked by a hooded figure which had a grey helmet on its head, formed like a scared to death human face. It kept a firmly grip around a wooden rod formed like a death – skull on the end with bloody – red glowing eyes.

" Now, were do we wander around at this hour of darkness, my dears?", Death was croaking out with a shaby immitation of a must be voice. Two jets of fire were flying through the air while the hut was pulled back leaving only the helmet hanging in mid – air staring with a madly expression down to his targets.

My feelings at this moment were nearly undiscribable as you surely can imagine, can't you? Anyway, the point is that there was the urgent need of getting the permission for a free evening that had seemed to drove us in some kind of madness while facing the death in person. And know, for all those who still think that I can't be telling the truth here comes a propper discribtion of the death again:

His eyes are like windows showing the inside of the hell itself. His head looks like the wax – figure of Jack the ripper at Madame Tussaud's while the lance in his hands is telling the story of hundreds of thausends death people by one look at it. While we stand there, stunned, not daring to take in breath, all around us the building was changing as if it fought against the death with all its might. The force was so great that even I had to close my eyes, until Sophie was rapping at my slave to turn my attention towords a door with silver letters on it saying:

Hear you find the gallary of the secret nation and the way to get out of the building to fulfit your destiny, but beware young ones as it may take you a while to come back to this secure place. As a last advise always think of the nature and that it shall repay those who always trust into it nomatter what!"

"Strange, isn't it?", Sophie and Lucinda muttered at the same time as I heared a voice hissing, "Caught while still in action, aren't we Peter?" All three of us slowly turned on our heals only to face Billy Mc Cartney grening at us talking to his sister, "I warned you, darling. I warned you not to interact with him and see where your ignorance had brought you!" With a snap of his fingers the door flew open and a strange wind let us fall out of the door, which shut with a horryble "bang!"

Worryed I changed a look with Sophie before I recognized two people coming in our direction. They were Maik Paterson and my sister Marina. Both of them were dressed very formal and I managed to recall that they had told me they wanted to visit the opera the privious night, I was never more glad to see my sister than right now, and this was not a lie. Both of them looked concerned, but also a little bit parently. "Once the younger one, ever the younger one!", I thought sorrowly before we all were distracted by the high pitched laugh of Billy who had a hungry look in his eyes while he said, "So sorry guys, but now you have to say goodby to the girls, because it is my turn to take over the leadership of the dark side and what would be a greater start of my leadership as to get me my first brides before finishing of my enemys once and for all?" He pointed at the fountain where a ugly green see – serpent rised its head out of the water immediately. Next to the fountain was standing the hole dark nation, and as theire leader the death.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha. Did you really think you could be able to trick me by such a little magic manipulation? You have to stand up a little bit earlier if you want to bet me!", the death laught madly, opened his bony hands and shot a ball of blackness into our direction which exploded into a group of skeletons holding iron swords and bows out of burned wood. The fight had started.

Fire – eater was in my hand in no time to fly around like a bird who broke free of his prison after being chained for many years, but it was not only my sword that freed itself from a years long undoingness. No, all around the battlefield the wind got stronger like a horn alarming sleeping warriors to get theire weapons and join the fight as it was for theire own good. You might not understand what I mean, but the air was bursting out into flames before our eyes while manticors and unicorns were marching infront of a giant army of lions who had pretty looking girls riding theire backs. Next to them bears with silver breast – plates were swinging clubs from the size of half a tree with golden spikes on the end. Above these creatures a sea of eagles were zooming in the sky waiting for a special event to happen.

I know that most of you must think right now, "How the devil are they supposed to fix a clear thought in theire mind with all this noise around?" I have to admit, it was impossible.

In this moment the forces of the darkness prepared themselves for fighting these imense strong creatures. Lady Selenka smiled at me in a way that told me how much she disliked me with her entire being. That should have been reason enough for me to throw away my sword and put as much distance as possible between me and this person of pure hate and fury against what had the slightest glimpse of light in his or her mind or spirit. All that kept me from doing this was my responsibility to save my fellow family, because I counted all of the four people next to me to my family even if it was not always this way. Here my thoughts were casting away...

It was a pretty, sunny day of summer six years ago. My little family and I had made a little excursion to a near park were we had planned to have a picknick. We had all sorts of fruits, some bread, many bottles of juice and my favourite pudding with us. The people around us were out of our neighbourhood so we were not as suspicious as we normaly were when it came to this kind of special events. This was very misirable, because at this place no praperations could be taken in fact the dark nation, which was unknown to me by this time, decided a tackling at us.

…. Here my mind came back from wandering around my memorys exactly in the right moment to hear Sophie crying out my name in fear. I spun around only to see in shock that a group of shadows in leeding of Billy had managed to brake through our lines and cought not only my girlfriend, but my sister and Lucinda as well.

We did all we could to get them back, but the rest of our army was so exhausted that we lost battilion for battilion in a matter of minutes until we were outnumbered by the dark forces by 1 : 5000. The rest I remembered was that we had imense dificultys to shut us in the quite opera where we could decide how to plan our next moves. Both of us were nearly at the end with our nerves, while in my head a voice was shouting, "Help her! Get her out of the grip of this git!" But now I was really down with all my remaining powers. The happenings around me were slowed down until they were nothing more then passing shadows in the void. For me it felt like loosing the sense of living in this babaric world without my girlfriend while I sensed the same feelings in the aura of Maik. All seamed to be much less light and even the non dying roses at the pictures in the Entrance hall of the opera were looking sad, miserable, dying. But not all of them, in the near of a fire place in which the fire was slowly dying one flower was still colouring the place representing a bit of hope in a time were we half bloods were sinking into our own madness over the coruption and rudeness the world was bathing in right now. So I started to went to the fire still captured in my depression feelings. When my eyes met the dancing flames it was like sinking into a pool of hot, bobling water. Then I opened my mouth and without further intention I started to sing in the language of the secret nation like a petitioner:

"High lords and lady's of my family,

Please hear my questioning with a open ear! Here I stand, only with my little being and want to have a request to you, if you could send me some information about your opinion for starting a rescue mission for my girlfriend and sister!"

I waited for some minutes for a answer and while I did this the candles droped hot wax constaintly to the floor which was like drums in the complete quiet inside the hall. After what felt like years my eyes started to fell close and my body got really havy until I made contact with the flames and...

Fell right through it to make contact with a marble floor in a really big room where nine chairs were standing in the form of the letter N in the language of a clan of the old Celts. Allso there was a silver plate saying,

"We great you young hinker and if you proof yourself being a fellower of your blood we will show up! So please give a drop of your living liquide into the bowl and we will decide what to do."

Imidiately a bowl appeared on the bottom of the plate and I droped some of my blood into it, closed my eyes and waited.

The time went slowly and I dared to open my eyes a bit, only to pull them open completely when I realized that on the chairs where sitting nine people with the size of high – rise apartment builings smiling down at me with happy expressions on theire faces. My father was the one who started to speak first, "Here you are my dear son." He made a movement with both of his hands to discribe his overcoming joy he felt at the sign of his son in the very mids of the family, but when he saw the expression on his oposites face he stoped in his action immediately, wearing a deeply concerned look before making short eye contact with Lady Selina from whome he knew that she was the mother of the little Simon and in a way the aunt of the boy in front of them.

Whatever his dicision would have been he was interrupted by the heart – breaking sobs coming from Peter. That cursed a quick movement by Lady Esmira who joint Peter's side stricing his back giving him the support he needed after leaving his friends in a unknown destiny, which could possible end in theire deaths if nobody would rise theire hands for fighting evil in name of love.

My thoughts were highly disturbing me while standing under the watchful eyes of my relatives. That was the moment when all my bad dicisions of the day were showing up in every little ditail again. The beautiful lions and unicorns falling by the bloody blades of cold – eying shadows staring at me with expressions saying, "You will be the next one testing our blades!" Cold showers were running down my spine without any stop. As I felt the support given to me by my aunt I could'nt fight back my tears of great sorrow for my friends, and when I heard a voice whispering in my ear reassuringly, "We will free her, my dear boy. You have done enough for the mental state you are in at the moment, so be sure it will all be well my dear nephew." With that she faced the rest of the nation again starting a furious speech for a entering into this fight to make sure that the "chosen ones" like she used to call me and my friends out of a strange reason. My mind started to work hard as I listened to her words. What did she mean by saying we were the chosen ones. What ever it had to do with our situation! All of them looked like being taken aback very much by hearing this shouting for them to do something right NOW!

"All right.", Lord Liberty managed a slow respond after a long thinking time where no one even thought of disturbing the way his thoughts took on concluting the kind of reaction the secret nation should use on the problem they were confronted with out of the appereance of Peter at this place right now.

"I think we all agree in the point that Peter's situation is much to difficult for us to see through it and living our daily live again!", Did my hearing had stopped working or was my father giving his approval to interact in a situation of half – bloods which meant to brake the most important rule the secret nation ever build up? But it was exactly that and it made me gasped at them with a expression that showed how less of that I did not understand or how much I did not understand. My attention was caught again when Lord Liberty asked his fellowers for rising theire hands if they agry with the conclusions he had announced now. Slowly hands were rising into the air until the whole consultation team's hands were up in the air. The first time in 2000 years there had been a vote with no voice against the subject beeing discussed.

"Now, young blood of ours your time to leave this place has come, because we have to do praperations which are not supposed to be watched by humans or half – bloods as much as I feel sorry for this, but you must leave us know my dear son, but allways keep in mind that I think really high of you my son.", Lord Liberty anounced loudly and every one who heard him sensed how high his opinion had rised consurning his son.

With these words a light was coming across the place, enveloped Peter and took him away from the last people who stand a chance against the strong forces of the darkness and with the thought of having done the right thing he closed his eyes allowing the light to lead him back through the place he came from hours ago.

A slap in his face was waking him and he opened his eyes to see the concerned face of Maik Paterson staring down at him talking non stop at him. A smile apeared on his face and before he collapsed completely exhausted into the arms of the older one he managed to say, "We are rescued!" A rumbling sound came from the sky above wich could only have one meaning. The nation had been involved in the conflict.

The streets of Kiew were covered in a deep silence which was only broken for a moment by the arrival of four people. It was Billy with the three girls accompany him since the battle. He seemed to be really outraged for the reason that they did not behave like they were supposed to. So he had decided to get on with a much stronger hand then before to make them know the consequences for taking the toe even once over the line. After a request at his father theire had been found a way to give out a detention to the girls which should influence them to forget the two boys who were left behind. Therefor they had entered a dark pub where a ghostly looking barman was looking up at Billy with a toothless smile mutering slowly, "The same as usually, Billy?" The boy only nooded with the same hungry expression in his face like when he had captured them.

This night was the pure terror for the girls who were still in a deep shock of getting pulled away from theire boyfriends. While they ate and got some drinks girls were giving a show to the delight of the guests. It was nearly midnight as Sophie got to her feet giving the unmistakeable sign of tiredness to all of them. The only response on this was a hungry look coming from Billy that she was not able to give a suitable meaning, but should realize later in what dangerous situation she was driving herself into. For now she only got upstairs with a hurting head and the strong disire to get a good and deep nightsleep. Before falling asleep her eyes met the mirror who gazed back at her with sad violet eyes! A moment later the girl was cought in the perfect land of her dreams so she did not saw the reflection which now started to shiver in the mirror looking like a handsome young boy with a concerned face. This boy was the incarnation of the moon who was mostly a viewer who was not allowed to put his hands into the affairs of half bloods like the secret nation as well, because they had made a unbreakable pact in the morning light of the earth to only observe the happenings until the balance is not constant anymore. Then Lord Mirkow was allowed to wake the nature and its untouchable lords, the sun and the moon. Since he had heard his master the waiting for the right moment to took part in the actions was painfull for the freedom loving caretaker. Now he had asked for the permission to take care for Sophie, because his sister had already got the job of leading Peter in his risky adventure. Allso the moon had always been the one feeling responsible for the true love between young people while his cousin the spring had helped him in this. So, it was no wonder that in this moment one of the candles on the desk was burning with incredible strengh until the flame was as high as a man and in a flash of light a young man looking like in his teens stand next to the moon while three other men surrounded the girl looking thoughtful. The moon cleared his throad and started to sing a quite song about lost love and the disire of hearts. While he was singing each of his cousins was ading a present to Sophie which should help her to find Peter if she could break out of this prison. What these items were will not be mentioned here as for the possibility of not supposed ears to hear this.

One by one each of the saisons faided away to leave the moon alone with the sleeping girl. Right as he wanted to leave two voices were coming from downstairs and the door was pulled open rudly. Two men entered the room like restless lions looking for a poor target to rape. "Please, father let me be the one to teach this bitch how to behave properly!", One of them was pleeding as if he counted down the time before he could have the option to pay back all his evil to his enemys. "No boy, you have to learn not to use your powers to bitches like that!", Lord Ursow pointed at the girl who jumped in the air once and fall down again moaning in pain while Billy laughed at this sign out of pure fun. "Disguisting!", the moon whispered under his breath while his mind was already concluding several ways to get her out of harms way and prevent her from being raped by this boy. He closed his orb like eyes and communicated with his sister through theire family bound. Nearly ten minutes passed in which Lord Ursow left, Billy put away his cloths to have some pleasure with the girlfriend of Peter as a soft voice could be heard in the room telling from cold, wet cellars and dark corners in empty cemeterys. In the meantime a pale – white hand opened the closet while Billy procided his doing ignoring all his surroundings as best as he could. He could not think about someone who would be stupid enough to disturbe him, the hire of Lord Ursow!

It was still in the night as Billy left Sophie to proceed at the next one of the girls leaving her completely exhausted and crying like wanting to get rid of a lake of tears, but than she catched up the noise of quite steps coming towords her bed as lightly as a fallen feather. "Shh, don't cry my dear. Please don't, I am here to help you!", said the moon with a contant pleeding voice. Sophie looked at him out of clouded eyes, which were full of sorrow, because she had to endure enourmes horror and pain.

Thunder rumbled outside the opera with enourmes force onto the earth, which was aching under a extrem heavy burden. I managed to get to my feet and struggled a little bit with my wieght until it was secured that I would not brake down. Driven by a unknown conclusion of my mind I opened the doors to the inside of the opera and went looking for a secret clue that could possible help us to find a way out of the undoingness. With a flick movement of my fingers I woke up the flames all around the gorgious place. It was a sign of such a misterious age that lived in this room that both of us were left speechless for some moments, while our eyes were colecting as much details of the remaining art of passed ages as possible. The pictures of animals known only out of sagas were the most impressive ones, while also the others were much to great to be left unnoticed. There were paintings of beautiful landshapes next to unforgetable statues desinged with the talent of a Leonardo Da Vinci. All of them were holding up banners of the many different countrys living in the world. It was a picture of a perfect world with all nationality's living in peace next to each other. A goal that was more than imagination if the people who stand for it would be strong enough to keep theire mind focused on the reasons why they were risking theire lifes in this war. With this fact in mind the two of them proceeded theire path through the crowed of statues which seemed to follow them with the eyes. Maik stopped one moment later, because he felt a invisible someone pointing his hand right onto his chest while Peter strod foreword restlessly until he faced the two statues of the sun and the moon with an expression that pleeded for help from these old and independ keeper of the balance.

Slowly I bent my knee, always sensing the presence of two extended minds in this room which seemed to scan every picture and statue in the room for eventual misbehaviour. While this happened my ears picked up a great song flying through the air which seemed to grip the air and change it into a kind of shield protecting me. As the song had reached a nearly undetachable sound, a wonderful bird created itself out of thin air and settled down on my shoulder hooting softly into my ear until I reached out with my hand and stroke his feathers gently. This moment should never end, but as we know out of the live the best things never hold on long enough. So it was with that too. A old and stern voice echoed loudly in the room booming, "What are you doing here in the palace of the saisons?" My eyes met the moon's face with so much disbelieve inside that the woman next to him laught like the bell of a church. This was the moment I looked down to the foot of the statues were a pair was standing smiling at me happyly. The sun looked like she had last time I met her back in the university while her brother was covered in a rainbow colored armour and holding a sickle – shaped dagger in his left hand as if he prepared himself for a eyes seemed to speak for themselves, because the moon started to explain the situation my girlfriend was in to give me some support that I had done the right thing in consulting my relatives.

Shock! Pure, hot shock ran through my entire body while I kept listening to the story the moon was retelling twice until I got it all in my head. In the time you need to journey with the light from the sun to the earth my thoughts reached the conclusion of how to consider the next things to get a move on in fighting Billy and all the creatures, lords and lady's which surely would stand in his back. Absentmindly I strocked the feathers of the beautiful fire – bird that had sattled down himself on my lap. The bird opened its orb – like, golden eyes to intervine his gaze with mine, and if you look into the eye of a bird like a phoenix you feel like loosing your body in the nonstoping river of time were all of our intime thoughts, disires, wishes and the essence of the force that took responsibility for fighting until we had our privat golden goal are to find.

Nobody, who never had have the opportunity to explore his or her own mind can truly imagine the impressions I got from this unbelivable present right now. A soft voice was communicating with me in a way that doctors would discribe as mental, but I would like the term of "combine our most secret cores to one inocent soul" better, because it feels exactly like this and is the first step on the way of becoming a team that is capable to fight the unfightable. What a wonderful feeling must this be, to have certainly found a nearly unbeatable weapon to stand against all evil produced by the darkness? For me it was as great as getting the permission to join the secret nation as a full member.

The voice in my head whispered, "You are nearly at the parting of your way in life and you will have to make a decision that is worth of a Lord Liberty. On your decision are many lives depending on. I am here to help you in this tricky situation, but have in mind that I can only give advices and not showing you the real conclusions of the pictures you will see, the feelings you will feel, the history you have to cope with, but as long as you keep your mind focused you will not have any problems to master your way! Now, I have to ask a final question. Will you, Peter Gardner, fulfit your tasks on this jurney without worrying about the consequences of knowing your future more or less, so answer yes!" And I gave an answer that was not only influencing, but allso complecating my life in the strongest way you can imagine. I answered, "Yes!"

**Chapter 5 **

**The journey of my life and a horrible risky rescue mission**

After I gave my answer the river started to glow in a mixture of gold and silver light until the water was parted in two fractions. Both parts were rising to a kind of doople – doors which changed the color into black and white with some marquentrys at the left and the right side. With some dificulty I managed to decipher the glyphes at the white door, because they were like the one that was carved on the metal of my sword as well as on the sheath that was pulled onto my belt:

Decide stranger, for a life without any danger and dificulty so you will choose the path that will take you to the glorious lands of happyness. Or you will follow my way, that is risky and full of tasks to prob your willingness in facing your own demons and maybe recive something that will help you in time to come! So decide stranger!

There I stood infront of a splitted up path, each of them holding back many opportunitys for my way in life. My hand was resting in the mids between the two doors, pointing once at the black one and once at the white one. Next to me the bird stuck his beak into my back like he wanted to drag me into the direction of the white door out of a really dangerous reason.

And as I had a last turn to check my surroundings I saw a group of thick black storm clouds nearing our place, so my brain stoped working and I steped through the doorstep into the blinding white light without any clue what was waiting for me at the other side.

Minutes after I made contact with the solit white wall I recognized myself standing in a uncertain landshape covered in mist as thick as tons of sand. Cloaked figures were passing by, talking about the ill faded destiny I had cursed them into, because I was only existing. My hand focused tightly on the handle of fire – eater, which was waiting to be pulled out for shielding me from the spears carried with the sharp point ahead. Slowly I was circled by these creatures who kept drawing in theire breath with the sound of breaking glass. Before my hand could react, my mind had already found the reason why they were here all around me like vultures. So, instead of fighting I focused the biggest one and bowed infront of him like a deeply respekting servant. For some minutes, feeling like a elternity, nothing but the whispery wind could be heard. Then there was a electricity in the air which made my hair stand up and even the blank head of the king of the death started to change after he put down his hood. Next to him a untidy mount of cloth apeared out of thin air on top of a glass – table. A finger of his left hand pointed at this pice of cloth, and it jumped into the air leaving a grey helmet back which looked at me out of empty, black eye sockets. Now he made a movement for me to pick up his helmet and settled it down on his head. When it made contact a scream of happyness jumped through the place. A bright light started to shine and the figures were combined to one enourmes person with a white cloak. He started to speak softly, "Hello Peter, I have waited a very long time to speak to you, but I had hoped for better conditions as we have them now!" the giant made his way to a group of trees and with some words in the language of the secret nation the trees grow into a desk and two chairs where we both sat down and watched how the light slowly got stronger and stronger in turning the shadow down. None of us was able to say how long we had sat there, but after a while the man continued, "You and I are the same Peter! I am here to guide you through your darkest secrets which you even keep away from your own mind. When you were born, your family saw a dark future waiting for you to face. So they asked for help inside of the statue of liberty, which is the old oracle of the world coming from your ancestors! There were your father, lady Selina and lord Wendlin present to hear a prophecy about a group of young people who were supposed to surch for a long lost good required by the secret nation!" Comprehencion drawn on my face as I remembered the words of lord Caracas back in the Humboldt University directly after the history lesson, and the deephs of this quest started to fix themselves in my mind slowly. Minutes needed to pass before I felt ready to use my voice without faiding away after the first words would come out.

"So", chr, "So my family was ….was here and nobody found it important to give me any clue in this matter at all?", the last part of it I was screaming out into the empty voide around us with so much range that the dark, leavless trees were shaking under the enourmes pressure my words were holding back. Next to me the warrior nodded with his head slowly in understanding, put his hand onto my shoulder and squeezled it to give his sympathy for my situation, but I shockled it of. I did not want his sympathy, I wanted his respect! So I got to my feet and started to pass up and down infront of him.

In this moment the red – golden bird appeared on my shoulder and was hooting softly into my ear until my mind slowed down enough to consider reasonaly how to cope with the situation I was in. While no one made a sound a picture appeared in my head. It was Sophie smiling at me, reaching out with her hand to help me up and face our destiny again in order to get rid of the evil creatures of the darkness. Something connected to my new decision must have shown up on my face, because the warior gave me a piece of paper and whispered, "You will have friends around you where ever you go, and theire are certain forces that will come into action if a person asks for them out of selfless reasons!"

This gave me enough reasons to pull myself together and I started to make my way back into the darkness, acomponied by my bird and the warrior. To have something in my hand I pulled out fire – eater and swung it left and right through the thick dust. Each time the blade made contact with the mist, I could hear the sound of dying people and some of my fears disappeared leaving me back a little bit lighter then before. This went on until we reached a ravine with a old bridge crossing it. The bridge was broken at different parts, two or more bords were so mouldly that one touch would be enough that the whole bridge could brake apart. My brain made the conclusion to concentrate on my past with my family and friends. Moments afer I had started to do this the bridge repaired itself magicaly. After we had passed the ravine I had a wooden stick in my hand which hold a diamond inside of the top. My hand was shaking as I touched it with pure exitement driving me into action. Fascinated I rubbed it until theire was a light starting toi shine in the deephs of the diamond.

While this happened the darkness around us shifted its shape each secound, sometimes it looked like a forstrached finger and in the next moment it was a skull with violet eyes staring with pure hate into our direction. From one minute to the next I had strange words in my head that floaded out of my mouth like a restless river sounding like a waterfall going down 1000 m in less then a minute, "Daylight come and help the seaker of the peace out of the dark to fulfit his work!" Now the air around us was full of light and the sound of laugh jumped from rock to rock in a spead even faster as the light. Everywhere I put my eyes on the shadows were faiding away, leaving a clearing with two trees whirled around themselves like a kind of gate. I was pushed from behind into the direction of this strange structure. The force was strong enough that my feet were stumbling right through to open between the trees. It felt like being caught by a vacuum cleaner which is working as fast as possible. I know I was screaming the lungs out of me, but that was not enough, because everytime I thought my life had ended theire was a pain that remainded me of being still alive! Even if this was hard to endure, it was not the end, because there also were faces and bodys of all the people I knbow around me, observing me strugling. I tried to shout them, but they neither wanted to listen to me and my will was beaten by all these horroble things that had happened on this journey so far that my mind had closed itself from any inrusion all the same if it was mend friendly or bad. So you can think of me like being lost in the big nowhere where time and place had no meaning anymore, because nobody existed to ask such questions. How long I stayed at this place? I do not know, and if I should be honest I am not even interested in this piece of information, so do not bother about this question to much. **I do not want an answer to that!**

Anyway! After a uncountable time my falling ended with a start.

As I could open my eyes again my very first action was scanning each piece of my sorrunding pretty. In the same moment as I wanted to have a closer look on the medical appliances the door went open and my heart nearly made its last beat at the sign of this person entering the room. It was...

Lord Liberty was wearing a coat with a name pinned on it. "Lars Brookman" I managed to decipher it while still lying flat on my abdomen. Why the hell had nobody told my that my father was in the hospital when my mother gave birth to me. I had seen the date earlier! "Because it was kept in secret to anybody to prevent any notice by the darkness and to secure your welbeing, but unfortunately theire were some complications that had influenced the path of history and are the main reason why you are here today exactly at this moment!", A voice next to my left ear answered slowly. Once again the door went open and a woman entered the room only to stop suddenly looking at me with stunned eyes. The voice hissed worried, "Get invisible now! We need to talk to her after he has left!" Before I could respond anything I got nudged into my ribs so I created a wall around me that covered me and the white knight from sign. After that the nurse seemed to relax and concentrated on my father telling him, "Doctor Brookman you are requested in room 1492!" At first his gaze became confused, but then something really strange happened. The room became completely foggy and the body of the nurse started to change until she looked like a female angel looking at my father like a general giving out instructions. Like being in trance my father left the room for his my mind I prayed that this is a dream and that the fog would left and I open my eyes to realize this came out of my imagination, but as you know we have no chance to influence the reallity, so I faced the woman infront of me expacting to deal with a horrible creature of the darkness. My hand went down to my waist slowly reaching for the handle of fire – eater when the woman opened her mouth and spoke directly to me, "There is no need to use your little tooth pick against me as you can not kill me really. I know why you are here and I have waited for you since, let me think, since four years, six days and twenty two hours." Then the room went back to normal and the nurse seated herself on one of two chairs in the midle of the office. Slowly I stepped forword, which needed 15 minutes, because every time my ears cought a sound from the outside, my feet stopped moving immediately. But the woman was amazingly pasioned with me. After I had managed to sit down both of us let the time go by uninterested, but observing each other closly. She was the one to speak first, "I am very glad to meet you in person, Mr. Peter Gardner. My name is Angela Personsky and as you saw I am not like other people here in the hospital. Ah, you have brought your soul twin with you, how nice!" She inclinshed her head in the direction of the warrior of the white plance. When I could use my mouth again I voiced a question, "What exactly are you?" For one moment she looked a little bit offended, but then she shaked her head and started to tell me a story that nobody ever had imagined.

"You remember the night lord Mirkow woke the nature? Now, that was not all that woke up. His voice was loud enough to reach **all **creatures fighting for the light, so I want to say that it woke up the angles. Not like you know us out of storys and history. We are much more. We are the undepended guardians who mostly watch over the activitis around us, but our race is deeply connected to the nature. This connection is so strong that everyone who asks the nature for action gets the help of the angels as well. This is the reason why I had my eyes open for a sign of your arrivel to fulfil my work in this hospital and get back to the fights.

For a moment I was completely stunned, but then I managed to get to my feet again. Now there was running something through my viens that forced my body into action or else I would end up with a completely confused mind unable to ever do anything on my own again. I did know that I was in a hospital 15 years before I should be able to do something I was in a position to change all that had happened or that would possible happen to me and my family in the future. Luckyly the strange connection to the secret information I inheritanced from the secret nation came into action now, and a old part of my brain started to work. This knowledge was enormous, it was full of hints to special hiding places everywhere in the world to every time in the past and the present, I could even make out some clouded images from the future, but that would be something to consider later. Now all that was necessary was to find a way to find out why I was send here. My gaze went from the angle to the door and back again, while complecated plans started to structure in my head immediately. Slowly my eyes were going through the piles of paper which were lying in mountains on the table of Dr. Brookmann. The fire in my eyes gave the only signal that I had found a task to complete before I could do anything in the case that I privately had named the "Gardner – affaire". So I asked Mrs. Personsky, "Do you know where I could get a room for the night to work through these maps?"

I waved through the records. There was a look in her eyes as if she would consider the reason of my question, before she shaked her head and blinked with her eye once until all of the folders were inside six large cardbord boxes.

"Ofcourse I know a place for you to stay for the night!", she answered crypticaly. Ten minutes later we were on the way down to the car – garages towords her car. When we reached it, I gasped stunned. It looked like a fourty years old Volkswagen, but when we got inside it was really strange, because instead of a steering wheel theire was the head of a goblin looking at me out of golden eyes, covered behind thick glasses. "What's the matter boy? Never saw a goblin, exapt for today? They should have told us of this little experiment should they not, Angela?", he spoke so fast that it felt like a hurricane being washed through my head. The bell like laugh of the nurse rang through the car before she anounced the goblin to bring us home. "Please fasten seat belts!", he was barking at me before the engine sprung into life like a sleeping giant after a mounth long nap. Mrs. Personsky did not even needed to accelerate, but the car started to drive onto the street and got us into the direction of the highway.

While we were driving Mrs Personsky said, "This will last for the next fourty five minutes, so you could use the time to tell me what you want to do with these special documents, could you not?" I looked at her puzzled, but then a tension builded itself up in my body, that pushed me into telling her my reasons, " You see, I have got a girlfriend in my time and she got captured by the darkness..." There a shiver went through her skin. "...So I had no other way then coming here and try my best to find out what had happened exactly."

These words were the last once for the rest of the ride, while mountains of dark clouds formed in the sky like the architecture of the old greek people in Athen. We arrived at our goal at ten past five in the afternoon and I marched directly into a little study downstairs where I asked my hostess to put all the folders into. After that I loked the door and signed at the piles of work I had to do now. My gaze went through the room and stoped at a notice board that filled a whole wall. Then I went quickly through a small number of folders where in total 245 pictures of different people came to a account.

These pictures were from girls up to the age of 15 starting from 12. Most of them came from the USA, but were in the treatment of a doctor who came from Minsk. Here I hasitated and looked the name up on my map of the darkness. There he was, lord Hurvin, second in command, I was shocked. I was not prepared on a new match with **them! **While still shocked I got myself a cup of tea and a little bowl. The bowl was full of water, which was as clear as a mirror. This water was special. It came from the tears of lady Esmira, who had used them to learn from the mistakes from passed time. With these things next to me, I took out the first one hundred cases and started to read. This is a part of the documents with the headline "Lina Zeretschow(16)":

… The patient Z. is not able to be reintigrated into society without being tested again...

Today, 20th of April 1985, the concil came to the decision that I, doctor Petrov, should have a tald with Ms. Z. about her behaviour! I was also asked to do all what was im my power to change the character I found in this person! As a document of my work you will find a video with the signature "case 1026" where all facts are on...

Several pages followed this one in the same kind. So I closed the folder and looked for the video that was mentioned in the text. To this time I thought it would ny like the police speaks to wittnesses, but it was not. This "talk" happened to be a systematic destructure of the mentality of Ms. Z. Each and every question sound different, but the intension was every time the same one. After that my activity in the research seemed to go down to zero. The records with all the opinions of doctor Petrov were blacked out, Then there was something strange in the folder of... I did not trust my eyes when I read this "Marina Gardner" was written in a spider – like handwriting. "Why the hell is the name of my sister inside of these records?", I asked myself mentaly.

Now I took a look at the watch, which was standing at the far end of the desk and it showed a quarter to twelve in the evening. So I stoped my work, because there was a lack of sleep that needed to be changed. With that I drank the rest of my tea, closed the folder I was working on and went to bed. This had been a really good working day.

Now we want to have a look to the hospital, where a movement could be registrated on a room that used to be not occupied. Since 1985 nobody was able to enter this room like there is an enchantment lying upon this door, but today it was proved that there is one exception, because the door slowly went open and a hand surched for the light switch for several minutes until the light was pushed finaly out. There was no visible sign that somebody had entered the room, but the girl who was lying in the bed next to the window, had been able to notice the change in the atmosphere around her, because she was not like oher humans in this hospital even if nobody know about her existance. This girl had a special day in life today, it was her birthday which happened to be the sixteenth time in her life, something special. The person who had entered the room did not show any interest in her being awayk or asleep, so she took the opportunity to observe her oponent as closly as possible. This kind of observing became a costume to her in the years of desturbing undoingness. This ability was a remnant out of old, forgotten times when she was a highly ranked member of the children from the secret nation. She had been fighting side by side with her father lord Caracas to keep a hold on the carsle that was known as the Humboldt University, but these were the times when the light was much stronger then the darkness and now it was the other way round while she was lying here broken in mind and body, unable to do anything on her own. When she remembered the first days it was the pure terror. Every time a doctor came looking for her, but nobody could provide her any help so she kept being in this room and with the time passing by slowly falling into oblivion by the most of the doctors and nurses. Still there seemed to be one who seemed to remember her and now he was standing next to her bed like a old friend who forgot to visit his best friend for some years to come now to catch up with the news. How sweet!

A sly grean apeared on her visitors face and he helped her out of her bed into a chair while she was biting and screting at him. "Now, now my dear. You have to have your treatment like it was written down in your folder. By the way were have you put it?", he whispered into her ear before the needles stitched into her body, making her scream into the land of dreams, which was heard by a person who could be the help she was looking for so long.

I had a rather good dream this night until there were pictures and images of a young girl in a hospital screaming in endless pain. When I woke up in the morning the first thing I did was to check the photo inside the folder 1026 again and saw my worst fears confirmed. The girl I saw in my dream was real and she was in great danger. As normal as I could I made my way up into the kitchen where Mrs. Personsky was already preparing breakfast. In the first moment all seemed to be like a everyday morning, but my senses were trained enough to make out the signs of stress in Mrs. Personsky's moves, but I waited until we were ready with breakfast and seatled down in the livingroom.

"What are you thinking about, my boy?", Mrs. Personsky asked. "Ehm...yes, Mrs. Personsky this may sound strange..." Here I was interrupted by her, because she said, "Please be nice and call me Angela, as I am not this old to be called by my sirname, aspecialy not amoung my family." I nodded a little bit stunned, because you are not told everyday that your family contains angles, are you?

I signed, but then the decision had been made and there was no way of turning back. Slowly I made myself comfortable before there would be the unavoidable question about my dream and there it was, "Did you had a bad dream my dear?" With that my mental barriers were broken and I started to retell the happenings out of my dreams while I observed my opponents face, which went from ash to marble white in five minutes. For my complete dream I needed fourty – five minutes to retell, but it felt like we were sitting in the livingroom for atleast two hours, because there were so many questions coming from Angela that it was nearly impossible to tell everything without a long brake in between. As time went on I get the records from last night out again and we discused it over and over again.

Hours passed by, but the two of us did not show any interest in the time, because our work was much to complicated as to look for a meal or something else like this. I looked at one of the photographs more closely for a moment and saw that it was a picture of my family smiling at me. To Angela I pointed out a person in the background, nearly covered by my uncle Nil, the brother of my mother. "Do you know who this is?", I asked a little bit shyly. For a moment the room was filled with a bell like laugh that ringed in my ears like a complete orchestra. "That is me, dear boy! This is a family portrai and as your grandmother I have got every right to stand near my son or not?" "Surely, but wait! Do you really want to tell me that you are the mother of lord Liberty? Because if you are then you must be old, really old!"

She looked at me with humor flicking in her eyes, but I could see that I was right to see her as my grandmother. While we were sooking for information about the girl out of my dream cups of tea were dancing through the air from time to time. It felt like magic! As we had reached the last folder my grandmother whispered sadly, "I am older then the earth, but I see much more years lying infront of me so we also can do your mission together or what do you think?" I must admit that I was really glad to have her next to me looking at the events ahead. With the evening coming near both of us got nerveous, because ot had been fixed that we would go to the hospital tonight as soon as the sun had gone.

Once again I was sitting in the car with the goblin head at the place where the steering wheel should have been, but this time the goblin looked at me with plesure in his eyes and said, "Now, here again are we? You have got a great job to do tonight. Thatswhy I will hand you a little present for the leader of the halfbloods in this time and for the leader you know!" The back seat jumped to the front leaving two boxes on which were to find a celtic N and the names of four people were carved into the cover. On the first I saw my name and Sophie's, the second wore the name of the girl I saw in my dream and underneath a questionmark. I could not do anything with these objects so I just put them into my bag to hand it to the misterious Lina in the hope she would know what to do with it. With a noble nod I thanked the goblin graceful while my grandmother watched the sene amoused.

It was nearly midnight as we arrived at the parking place next to the hospital. We got out of the car and went to the entrance like Angela normaly did if she had night work, but there was the first unusualy sign.

The place behind the desk was empty and a scent of burned flesh was lying havily in the air. All I could do was gasp at the scene of the crime, unable to even think about moving or doing anything while gran was already looking for a object inside the bag we had brought with us. One moment later she pulled out a long object which held a diamond at the top, surrounded by small and carved pieces of ivory wood. With a cupple of words the diamond started to glow in a mistery indigo that produced dancing shodows in the complete entrance hall looking for fues, who could intervine our actions tonight which would be a very big problem to us.

In the meantime I managed to get the records of rooms, where all the patients were signed in. With a scaning eye it was a matter of seconds for me to detect the very name which could be the unce to our success. With the last power of our limbs we sprinted in the direction of Lina Zeretschow's room, hoping that we would not be to late for the first rescue, which was essencial seeing the result of the secound one directly connected. But next to the door was a person we have not counted into our plan. Now we could regret this. It was...

Sophie was lying on her bed like she had hours before. It was dark in the room which does not deserve to be called comfortable. As she took a look at the watch next to the bed she saw, that it was a quarter to three in the morning. That was all she could do for the moment, because the door went open and Billy entered the room with a determined expression on his face. While he seated himself on a chair her gaze became fixed so much that Sophie was able to feel his arogance that told her much more that his monolog he started to rezited like lord Ursow would have done it himself, "We... I have decided that you are guilty to have an relationship, **AN UNAUTHORIZED RELATIONSHIP**, to our, my enemy... Thatswhy it had been sealed a detention. You are not aloud to have any contact with the git of the secret nation anymore, **AND **with this you are told to obey all my wishes I may think of without any exaption!"

With that he foldered the paper, from which he had read out his complete speech.

After this, Sophie used her new ability again, the look of truth, to make shure that she would be alone for some time again. With the last bit of strenghts she managed to open her mind for the being of the moon to communicate with him, because he was the only one left to deliver important information from one time line to another. So Sophie was able to warn her beloved not to plan to rash actions which would only end up in the destructure of the freedom fighters and har at Billy's mercy as his damsel. So her mental voice cried out in pain and hopelessness which was bubling in the moment in exitement, into the great void outside her room, "Please help me, oh great watcher of the balance and pass along my request to the ones who maybe can do anything to help. Please help me, oh great watcher of the balance..." She prayed for hours, regardless who heard it, because for her it was the last way to get rid of her guilt feeling and to have a little hope she could use to stay alive while the horror around her got stronger and stronger.

_Back at the hospital with Peter and Angela_

...It was doctor Petrowitsch, who grined at us like a lunatic. The light in the corridor went out shortly, but we were able to see each others faces anyway. With the wariness of two lions in the fight for the leadership of the group. I and my opponent were eager to continue the fight, but exactly at this moment a noise distracted all of us. This noise came from the far end of the corridor, where the nurses had theire special room. It was like someone had smashed one of the high costly glass bottles with the Insolin inside. Doctor Petrowitsch looked back annoyed to no end. This was the distraction we needed to get the room keys from his belt around the thick waist. I bless all the gods I know for this kind of distraction while my gran started to look for the right key to unlook the door, when a strong force entered my mind.

Before I even had a chance to build up walls around my mind a voice shouted harsh, "Stop it you idiot, it will only destroy you." Confused it took me a moment to collect my thoughts before I was able to respond, "Who are you and what do you want?" Instead of getting an answere I switched back to reallity by a sudden cry and a flashing of orange light. Three people were standing six feet infront of me. I recognized doctor Petrowitsch but what I saw pressed the air out of my lungs immediately. The doctor was fighting a girl and a boy with a one hand broadsword while bolts of red lightning were coming out of his free hand hitting sometimes the boy and sometimes the girl. Without thinking I opened the box with my name pinned on and found a ring resting inside. Like dreaming I put the ring on, pulled out my sword to involve myself in the fight.

It felt strange to jump into the air and swinging a sword after such a long time where I did not have any possibility to practise sword fighting. Anyway, the echivement of this was, that the doctor fell uncountious to the ground and I got the chance to have a closer look on the two I rescued only a moment ago. We looked at each other hard, before I streched out my hand in the intention to befriend with them, as I had the strange feeling that it would be good to count them amoung my friends. Minutes passed by until the girl claped my hand, exanged a nod with the boy next to her and spoke with authority in her voice, "We are very happy to stand by your side, because we have been waiting for this situation our whole life. So you can be sure that you find help from us as Dennis Pfefferkorn and Dennise Pastorelli never forget a favoure given by friends." After this speech both of them bowed infront of me, but not in a way that would have made me emberessed. It was more the other way round. A wave of happyness came over me bringing back the light feeling of freedom along with a peaced mind that I know we would need in the time that was now approaching very fast.

So we could enter the room of Lina relatively relaxed, because theire was the fear of being to late and to realize that all we have fight for has to fall apart. The room appeared to be like every other room you can think of in a hospital, but with a second look my grandmother and I saw Lina sitting in a chair - like apparation that was linked to a electrical generator which provided enough energy to destroy several citys at once if wanted, but she seemed to be able to stop the energy in its way, because nothing happened to her body. The problem was that the more energy she stoped the less power she could provide for the next shock to fight against.

Quick witted I pulled out the generator by using an iron crowbar. As a result the force, which held Lina in place faded away and left her to be cought by Dennis. Dennise and I took the initiative to pack Lina's things quickly, while Angela handed her the box over with the words, "From Gilbert!" For a moment she looked as of she had no clue what that was suposed to mean, but then she opened the box only to whisper, "I had hoped they would have forgot about it, but it seemed to repeat itself now like so many years ago." With these words her hand reached into the box to recive a pen in which the personal symbol of lady Selina was carved next to the official banner of the secret she tried to write with it the pen started to glow and grow, until it reached the length of a bow and a bowstring fixed itself onto both ends while a quiver apeared behind Lucinda's left shoulder. Strange noises were to be heard out of the corridor that brought the sign that doctor Petrowitsch was back, so that we are forced to do something as fast as possible. Therefor Angela went to the window and broke out one of the tiles which showed a bow with silver marquentry across its complete lenghts. Underneath we found a red dot which sank down by the slightest touch, changing the wall into a silver portal, like the one I had entered on my way into the past. We were not able to see anything but white light. After a long fall all of us were transported into the city of Kiew where the next and final part of the rescue mission should happen.

The group went the same way as Billy and the three girls so many months ago, but the streets were even darker this time, because in Kiew one of the dark defenses was stationed and worked with all its might against each intrudor coming as a descendent of light. Once again wo could count on the admirable carved wooden rod. This time it shoot a directing jet of light off. We followed the jet to an old pub in a corner, between two old factorys.

Above the door we could make out the head of an one thousend year old boar with angry eyes. With a frone we entered the pub expecting an empty place, but it was full of dark creatures sitting around and talking about the problems with the secret nation in New York where lord Liberty and lord Mirkow seemed to do an medical examination for millitary service. That information lighted up our mood, but cleared our faces from every emotion so we got past all the discussing people backstage to the secret rooms. How we managed this was and is impossible for me to describe as it was so unfamiliar that my mind was not able to work it out. One of the doors was open and theire were pleading sounds coming out of the room. Dennise reached for her belt and pulled out a miniature frog with luminating eyes looking at us with old intelligence captured inside. My eyes became big when she sayed, "Lets go Mr. Labrinsky and show them what we do with those traitors." Amaized I watched the frog entering the room while we prepared our weapons in silence. One last glance at fire – eater and all of us rushed into the room. While Lina tackled lord Ursow away from the bed, Dennis and Dennise were already holding lord Miras in place who was responsible for our problems on the way from the street into the pub, which had cost an enourmes amount of strenghts. I rushed on Sophie's side immidiately, where I found out that she already had started to prepare herself for the upcomming rescue. Therefor both of us went into a defensive position in which we made our way to the door, opened it and saw Billy standing there.

In a moments decision Sophie lounght for his right arm while my sword cut open the left leg armour which made him fall, but he shouted out, "My lord, take Zeretschow. We need her to rebuild our army." There all could have went wrong, but Lina and Dennise were next to each other so Dennise was able to build up an protecting shield which started to expand when Lina started to sing a long song were I managed to hear the moon's voice behind the incarnation. With each word the air around the shield changed its form from second to second and got hot at thee same time so that the lords of the darkness were screaming as if they were going into the hell. Lina used the time to get her bow to shoot down four skeletons which came from the coridor and were much to surprised to react before they meat death in the endless halls of his underground territorial. A moment later we were back on the street and on our way to the next airport to get to Rom as fast as possible.

**Chapter 6**

"**Planning"**

My grandmother was leading us in her angle – form, which could only be recognized by us as we all have blood of the secret nation in our viens. So we reached the airport in the protective coat of the oldest power the earth could provide. It was Angela who started to sing in the complicated language used by the disappeared angels. The lyrics came fast after each other so that it was like a kind of prayer to everyone who was not used to the practics common to the things behind the surface. To this prayer we reached the airport unharmed. So while we were on our way Lina, I and Sophie had a much needed talk that was about the strange boxes coming from the goblin. Lina said as an explaination, "When the world was still young a compromise had been made between the angles and the goblins. It had been sealed that the goblins would provide some of theire gold(they still have plenty of it!)for the angles to use it to craft two objects of immens power to have permanent protection for the place they lived on. To prevent these things of being used by mortals thay agreed to let them look like old, unuseable things to anyone without magical blood running in the veins. Once the forces of good and evil arrived here, the old forges got as good as cold so that only a little number of mighty objects could be crafted by the old smiths. As I see, you have realized of what I am speaking and you are right. All the objects used by the lords and lady's were produced in the last days of the great fire, when the Ätna and his brothers and sisters were young and aggressive. When I remember the old scrolls I have read, back at the Humboldt University I see the two oldest weapons clearly infront of my inner eye." At these words she got out the pen and pressed the red dot at the top down. Immediately the pen grow and she had once more a bow in her hand. Interested I opened the other box to get out an ordenary ruler. I tried each and every command in the secret language but nothing happened. So I handed it over to Sophie who admired itlike a flower or something like that. At that moment I remembered one of the banners at the palace of the saisons. It had showen a sword at the top of a bow that pointed at a shield with the emblem of an golden eagle in the midle of it. All this went through my head when Sophie hooked her finger into a little hole in the midle of the ruler. It started to extent while running around itself. This needed several minutes but at the end the three of us were armed like soldiers a thousend years ago. We joined the group to enter the plain which also had carved the strange banner inside its wings. With a nod to each other we changed the armour and weapons back to the ordenary forms and seated in the plain.

The flight was eventless. Not like the last time I had seat in a plain when I needed to get to Berlin like a novize into a monastery. So we reached Rom and it was wonderful. Great buildings were to the left and the right. First we went to the Coloseum only to take a trip to the rest of Rom realy impressed. Our sightseeing took two complete days after which we entered not a hotel, but the Coloseum again. Completely exhausted I fell on the ground and slid through a fine line in the stone which made the whole monument starting to glow. Where the broken colums had standed, nine big thrones reached in the sky now. Infront of my friends and me our parents reached into the sky with beaming expressions on theire faces. Allso they looked much more stressed than the last time I met them. The old voice of lord Liberty rang through the place, "I am very pleased to see you here mother, but answer one question please. Why is father so furious at all of us?"

"That is a question we are interested in too!", came a chor of voices out of the dark corner of the place. One after another the sun, the moon and the saisons steped into the light. Totally confused the halfbloods amoung us exanged some looks. This looked like a long prepared meeting of which nobody of the present people really had a clue of. And as if to prove our thoughts right something old and untouchable seemed to come up to us. With a "crash" numerous little screatches apeared on the surface of the earth while steam shoot twenty feet high into the air. In the midle of this inferno a strange rock raised up. The man sitting on that rock looked nothing like a living man should look like. His hair and beared had the colour of old cement while his face looked like a mine that had been worked on for hundreds of years. Whith sparkling eyes the stone – man looked at all of us deep in thoughts that were from times, nobody would be able to remember if not for that creature. Everything I had learned of the greek mythology was nothing to these moments that followed when the most important meeting in the worlds history started. The first hour was full of the retelling for the oldest member of the concil to decide which position he would have in this giant war. He shivered as the story came to the intervine of the death amoung the dark forces. He also remembered the moment when his son, lord Mirkow, awoke all the creatures of the nature, because this waking was much more intensive then it effected the way of things first.

A question got into my mind and so I just asked him, "Why are you here, anyway?" At first there was silence as it never happened that the great one had been asked such an insulting question ever. When he turned at me it was like a stone mask looking at you but then he was laughing as clearly as a young quell in the early spring. Everywhere the flowers raised theire headss while the sun's face broke into a happy grin until all the tension had gone and it really felt like the family meeting as it should be.

But it did not held for long, because half an hour later we heared hoofs trashing the earth fast and hard. While this kept going on some horns started to sing in the air and banners streamed in the wind. Even after I have been told that still **some **angles were walking on the surface of the earth it never occurred to me that it would be so many of them. Line after line kept passing by infront of us and it was like I have been falling into one of the "Lord of the Rings" films, because these creatures really looked as beautyfull as you would imagine those elves. Thay did not wore helmets so that you could see the pure white hair flowing down theire perfect shoulders. The eye could not catch up with the mass of the army standing there. Inly the ones who saw the forces on the battle at the doors of the opera were not as impressed as the rest. To both sides the soldiers were escorted by 5000 raiders carrying spears in theire hands. A carriage came towords us with seven golden horses pulling it. The door of the carriage snaped open and a jung man hoped off crying, "Here I am, dear brother and sister and this is my present for you!" All we could fell was joy, because our littl(at least the last time we saw him) Somon was standing theire in flesh and blood with an army in his back that never had been seen for atleast some hundred thousend years.

**With these happy feelings in mind we will have a look at the preparations of the other side back at the mighty walls of a undetactable castle in the mountains of the never leaving fog.**

The lord of the steppe was in truble. It was the first time since his betrayal on the two families, when he had made his pakt with the death. _**He remembered very well how shocked his half brother had been when he heard what Ursow had done but then nothing had been done to get him back to the right way. It was the time when the two families started to drift apart. Oh, that were times of great mistrust and evil thoughts. All had begun with the 500. birthday of lord Liberty and him. Nearly all presents had been changed, when the sky got dark and black flames came out of the fire – place. The flames took on the form of a human that entered the room like a general calling for war. With an icy voice he was caling, "I request my son and all who will follow him to come and live with me in my realm for as long as they may live …. eh I mean **__**want!" An evil laugh could be heard then only blackness...**_

The big iron doors went open to let a man enter who looked like a skeleton coming fresh from the graveyard. He held a lance in his hand that was the biggest trophy he and his forces had achived since nearly 1500 years in fighting the secret nation. This creature knew much to well that the plan he had for the next encounter with his enemys must be perfect. The time he had spent in planning for this big event would be nonsence if these last few steps would brake away underneath them. He seated himself first before he anounced his opinion, "We should decide how we will react on the question of these secret nation gits! I for my person am completely positive that they need to be cut down until nothing remains!" With hungry eyes he looked at his son and waited for his respond. What he heard gave him the shock of his live, "**If I may remind you.** These gits are the reason who we are here today **AND** our best halfblood is nearly mad, because of your inability to rule anything or anyone corectly!" At these words the flames shoot up again and his opponent nearly exploded while he was listening.

Before the death could respond something the big doors went open again to let in the rest of the dark lords and lady's who were acomponied by the halfbloods. They all wore masks with frozen expression. All looking like the one of lady Kirsten. Some of them still had got screatches from the many fights. Billy got forword to lay down a map of the Humboldt University before he went back between two girls who tried to comfore him since Sophie got free again. Interested the dark lords and lady's studied the map for some minutes while the death observed his grandson carefully. All that was left to do was to win this last battle, but what if it would be lost. Now he regreted it that he had not influenced Billy enough to make him more like his father, because if he would have managed that all the plans of Angela Personsky would be clouds in the wind. This person was a unfinished job for him since he was created by an miserable project to let one of the vulcans getting a permanent host to guide all the friendly creatures aside his master the earth, but instead he was entered by an extremely unsetisfyed soul which opened his body to the dark magic that changed his appereance and mind so drastically that something new was created that hold as much might as his master. The only problem was that he did not liked his position so he decided to overthrow his masters to get as much power as possible to rule not only the creatures in the secret, but be the master of all living being in the world. All that made him to what he was today had been his first and last mistake ever. In his unexpected option of youth he tried to trick the "spirits who create all", but they punished him with an ever lasting live like the ones he should have obeyed to were capable of. Since this time he was wandering through the earth, always thinking about revange.

Now his plans were complete, which had taken him 1000 years of endless planning while ignoring the pain he had received with the punishment. To everyone who looked at him he was a mighty man standing outside to law of the world, but he knew that this was only a facade which would brake in a short time if all should be cleared away from the surface and all mistakes would be regreted. He would be gone again, but he would not go without taking as many as possible with him. As he looked at the desk infront of him the best war plan ever was releaved to his imense plessure. The map showed the surroundings of the University with the tower of thrones as the central point of the defence actions eventual used by lady Selina and her archers, but for the death another place was much more interesting.

Its name was "square of damnation". The dark forces had ended theire conversation without any interference of the death or lord Ursow alike. Now the death layed in his chamber and closed his diamond – like eyes in the intention to find sleep, but all he could find were long forgotten images of the ones he had counted to his friends whoo insulted him, which made his decision only clearer that he would look at his end anyway how this encounter my end, but the most unusual thing was that he, the fearless gouverner, as he liked to be called, was eaten by his own worrys like a scarred rabbit by a fox. So the last noises that could be heard in the night were screams of agony and pain that could shake all the sence out of any living think and proving the end to approach. The death was dying.

**Chapter 7**

"**The battle of the Humboldt University"(part 1)**

We had been talking for some hours since Simon had arived and there was a exchange o information that it felt like we had not seen each other for 40 years. So it was ten o'clock when I layed myself down in my bed to have a good nightsleep, but after only ten minutes the door went open and a girl entered the room. For a moment I was not able to recognize my visitor but then my eyes took in the golden hair of my beloved. It took a minute for Sophie to lay down next to me so we cuddled for some hours before I whispered into her ear, "Why are you here at this time of the night my angle?" She pulled herself even closer before answering as quite as I, "Because this is aybe the last night we can spent together without being interrupted by the fights all around us." While I was thinking about an respond she layed down her head onto my chest so close that I was able to count her breaths in the quite night air. This moment should never end so I pulled her lose to me to feel as much as possible of this beatiful body next to me while she playfully stoked my face like a butterfly who was looking for nectar inside of an rare flower. Quitely laughing I captured her hand while she protested, but I silenced her with a kiss onto her smooth lips until she was out of her breath so much that she layed her head her head against my chest again. So we layed thaite only enjoying the stroking hands of the other one. Slowly we talked about the tome we had spend apart from each other. Some of these things brought hate into my heart that felt like hot iron running through my viens, but before it reached my head Sophie captured my lips into a passioned kiss again like I did it for her, so we could tald about those happenings to allow them to leave our minds or on the other hand they would destroy as. All the time we held each other tightly as if one of us would die if the other one would loosen his grip. Every five minutes we exchanged brife, little kisses like young lovers would do if they are alone, but one thing we left out in our talk. It was the torture she had endured while being caped in prison by the darkness. At midnight we fell asleep until 10 o'clock, so we got up and went to the balcony, where we had the great look onto the beach and the sea. With a laugh Sophie turned around to race to the beach teasing me, "The last will have to join Angela for the rest of the trip!" My grandmother used to start endless conversations about weaponary with everyone who was near her on long jouneys so that this was really boring, because she always told the same over and over again until you forget what was talked about.

As you can imagine she was the one who won our little race, so I found myself three hours later next to my grandmother while all of us stroded into the direction of two trees which were intervined by the trunk. Around this structure was a circle of letters written in the secrete language, but in what ever way I tried to read it there was no sence in any technic to decipher the text. This time it was my father who took the strange rod we had already used in the hospital. The fiirst word he pronunced seemed to have no visible reaction to the circle, but in the process each latter started to shine in a different colour. From red, yellow, orange, violet and blue to the most shining white I had ever seen. This was the time when the lord of the earth entered our minds and showed us a word of impossible power, so we prenounced it with all the streanght our bodys could provide. When we had brought it out, the letters on the stone around the two trees became one white shining area to rise into the sky until it looked like a extended door so that one hundred people could pass through at once.

So it took five minutes to take all of us to the Humboldt University, where Mr. Labrinsky already waited for us and streched his arms in a warm welcome gesture. "Lord Liberty", he cried out, "I am honoured to great you here in my mediore hall. All you asked me to have a look on the activitis of our kinship I must say thay have realy much potensial." Here he pointed at the lion statues I had admired since I arived here at this school. Now something really impressive happened, because our headmaster opened his mouth and bellowed for five minutes. At first only the wind became quiet ashamed but then the stone lions actually started to **move**. You could see how theire musclesstarted to flex from one position into the next. One of them jumped off his place to stroke at my side and touched me with his muzzle which was really ticklish. I asked him out of fun, "Would you like me to ride you in battle?" Instead of an answer he turned around for me to mount him here and now. After I did this two birds came out of the sky to land on both of my shoulders while four other stone lions came to my sister, my brother and Sophie. In the meantime the school doors had been opened to release a second army which was lead by our friend Maik Paterson who was warmly welcomed by Marina. So we had 600 strong fighters more to count on and they looked unbeatable. Some drums could be heard in the distance which made clear that the enemy was nearing our position.

"The University comes into view, my lord!", the dispatch raider spoke from the far end of the command tent. "Ah, now my moment of triumph is coming into reach. Now we are able to trick them with theire own weapon. Ha, ha, ha!" His grip around the glass – lance tightend while it started to glow against this misuse of its might, but the weapon already was to long in the wrong hands so the effect was not even enough to get away from the traitors hand. Lord Ursow got up to walk out of the tent and turned into the direction ot the University, which looked like a castle now because the magic of lord Liberty and his father combined was strong enough to release the reallity behind the gleam. Now the eye could see thin towers growing into the sky. Then a movement came into view from behind the castle walls which made lord Ursow gasp in astonishment. A line of people made a row on the walls with ready bows to release a deathly cloud of arrows onto the slowly nearing black armoured waves of soldiers. The person in the back pushed the golden sword high into the sky which got a jolt of electricity that he brought down to the arrows which caught fire by the contact with the bolts of lightning. So it was raining fire down on the black army. From the distance it looked like a carpet had cought fire that was eating the fiber one after another, so the men were falling like flies while the dark lords and lady's had started to sing a kind of black fog to cover the sections behind the fire – wall of being eaten as well, but from which ever point of view lord Ursow looked at the situation this first attack of the secret nation had cost him more then the half of his complete army. Now a army arrived at the burned field with a long forgotten banner flying above theire heads. It was a midnight – blue rose flanked by two golden daggers. The angles stopped 600 meters before they would crash into the thick fog. The sound of moving people came to an end as abrupt as it started, leaving the place completely soundless. A soft voice transported a note all the way through the air until it arrived at the foggy bench, where it cause the fog to shiver so slightly that the human fighters thought nothing had happened, but something had happened. Like waiting cats the angles observed the fog without any expression on theire faces.

From time to time a voice released another note to crush into the bench, but that was all that happened for the next few hours. The dark lords and lady's under the command of lord Hurvin became restless with each unused hour passing by but it was impossible to move without the O.K. From theire leaders. After this waiting crossed the six hours line the halfbloods made theire way to the castle. Halfway through the secured path Billy and Lorene Leskowsky heard the voices of 500.000 throats singing a line over and over again:

**Agraz u groez abr du nagra!(_ Open oh door of fog!)_**

On that command three great obelisks started to glow in a white light that was pressed to a ball of light which was catapulted into the bank by a big iron spike. This happened five times in a row until the darkness had nearly disappeared. In the last possible moment of distraction Billy managed to get his group over the castle wall and in hidden before the protective layer broke down leaving the rest off the army at the angles mercy.

**Chapter 8**

"**The prophecy"**

At the same time lord Liberty was standing on top of the white – tower looking down on the "square of damnation". The happenings of his 500. birthday were still fresh in his mind, but the reason why he came here to the highest point of the castle was completely different. He had the feeling that he was looking for a little detail since he had heard a strange prophecy at his personal realm, the statue of liberty.

… _It hadbeen a stormy night 20 years ago. He had forgotten to close the secret passageway to the statue last night, so he was forced to go down again and close it before someone could enter the holy place by accident. When he was about to close the trapdoor a light glimed at the far end of the coridor which let him thought angryly, "Damage happened!" So he took his sword fire – eater tighter in his hand and continued to walk to the light. He entered the prophecy – room ( like it ad been named since 6000 years as the first prediction had been made to the lord of the earth, that he would have a fight with his worst enemy before he could rest in peace) to see if he would be blessed with a fortune – telling and so he was._

_The statue of liberty down here was the sister of the sphinx and like her sister she was able to see through the clouds covering the future if the one who asks her is pure hearted. So lord Liberty kneeled down and pleaded, "Here I am, oh great seer. In great danger I enter your hall the future of our existence is depending on your word. Oh great seer tell me what does your eye sees in the time that lies infront of us?"_

_At first nothing could be heard, but then the room was full of a deep voice performing these words, "Have in mind my lord, that the last battle is waiting! Your rais or fall is depending on the amount of streangh your family can provide together to clear the earth from the death!"..._

Lord Liberty opened his eyes again when he recovered from his vision ge got out of the past. What he saw pressed the remaining air out of his loungs, because the sky was dark black, only leaving one person in sign who was standing on a hill performing a destructive spell against the lord of the earth. There it was. The final battle of live and death had begun.

**Chapter 9**

"**The battle of the Humboldt University" (part 2)**

More and more screams filled the air around me. Everywhere I turned panic lived in the eyes of the people, so I went some miles away from all the pain until I was completely alone. So it seemed. "There you are traitor!", a voice whispered in my back. Before I was able to react a foot smashed me into the middle of my back. A icy voice laught and in the next moment a sword shoot through the air while my hand got down to fire – eater's handle only to connect my spirit with the cold steel that feelt alive. Without any moment to think it through I turned and started to fight not two but three of my strongest enemys alive. The death started to corner me with all his technics while Billy and Ursow only smashed theire blades against each part of my body that they were able to reach. It felt like we had fought for days, but it was only half an hour until I heard the sound of an arrow flying through the air to hit lord Ursow into his left knee. For one moment he was unable to concentrate and that was enough for a group of people appering on the area. Without a secound to take in a breath Sophie and I started fighting Billy while Lina did the same with lord Ursow. Before the death could do anything but gasp he was under an attack of arrows flying from left and right. Which a sidelook I could make out the Pastorelli's alongside with Lucinda Parsewel. This destraction did not last long, because the rest of the dark children involved themselves into the fight. So we kept fighting until the sun came to the top of the hill at the left of the Humboldt University. After that a deathly quiet came across the field. The sun's voice was heard by everyone here so that was what she said, "I ask the lord of the death and his fighters to stop this murder and I am pleeding for a friendly agreement!" Whatever she thought would happen, the thing **that** happened it was definitely **not** the one expacted. A jolt of blackness came out of the remaining black army hitting her into in her chest. This made my grandfather cry out in pain and the earth beneath the black army burst open with a "crash", bringing down the evil enemy of all living and his last cry was the last thing I will forget for the rest of my live.

**Chapter 10**

"**Epilogue"**

Here I am again my friends. What you just read in the last few pages was only one of my years in learning the secrets of my family, but since then it was obviously the most interesting and horrable time at the same time. If you read these last few lines you have passed through a dramatic and sometimes funny story, but do not forget that it is only a story and nothing that had occurred in reallity. But anyway, if you want me to continue my story just let me know.

P.S.: look in the book for my address!(**joke**)

Always your

**Peter Gardener**


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